Doctors have known for a long time that nutrition impacts gout, a specific form of arthritic ailment, yet the jury stayed out for a long time on other frequent types of arthritis such as rheumatoid and osteoarthritis.
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However, general nutritional
health is vital and does come into play. Being overweight might affect some
arthritic disorders, pushing some joints to take more of a burden.
This extra weight affects the joints, causing overuse or greater wear to
components, and discomfort, especially in the knees.
Arthritic diets: the effect of diet on arthritis
So making sure arthritis sufferers consume excellent foods and obtain
advice from healthcare specialists to establish and implement a well-balanced
dietary plan is encouraged.
To begin, here is a look at various vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and some herbal applications to consider.
Vitamins
Vitamin B5- When combined and pumped together, B vitamins operate at
their optimum. They and B5 especially, are excellent for decreasing swelling.
Vitamin B3- This vitamin lowers tissue swelling and dilates tiny
arteries, boosting blood flow. Note that Vitamin B3 is NOT recommended for
those with high blood pressure, gout other intestinal diseases.
Vitamin B6- Another type of vitamin B that decreases tissue swelling.
Vitamin B12- This vitamin assists in numerous tasks. It aids with cell
development, digestion, myelin creation, and nerve protection.
Vitamin C - This vitamin serves as an anti-inflammatory, easing pain,
and rids the body of free radicals.
Vitamin E - This is a potent antioxidant that protects joints from free
radicals while increasing joint flexibility.
Vitamin K - This vitamin aids with mineral deposit into the bone matrix.
Minerals
Boron - This trace mineral assists with bone health.
Calcium- This is a much-needed element for bone health.
Magnesium - Magnesium helps keep calcium in equilibrium throughout the
system.
Zinc - This mineral is important for bone formation, but is typically
low in arthritic people.
Manganese - Manganese is also important for bone formation. However, do
not eat manganese with calcium since they might function against one other.
Copper - Copper helps to build connective tissue.
Germanium - This antioxidant assists with pain alleviation.
Sulfur - A shortage of sulfur can result in the degradation of ligaments,
cartilage, collagen, and tendons.
Nutrient combos
- Chondroitin Sulfate - This lubricant in joints, joint fluid, and connective tissue, may be found in the sea cucumber.
- Gelatin- Help with raw cartilage refilling with this affordable supply.
- Glucosamine Sulfate- This combination is important for tendon, ligament, bone, cartilage, and synovial (joint) fluid development.
- Quercetin- This helps with inflammation reduction.
- Type II Collagen- Use this for the development and healing of joints, articular cartilage, and connective tissue.
Arthritic diets and nutritional healing
There are several aspects to consider about arthritis diets
and nutritional therapy, and each element may not apply to each individual.
For example, certain people are
sensitive to particular foods, and these allergies can indeed aggravate
arthritic diseases.
Swallowing meals that include sodium nitrate or tartrazine can inflame
rheumatoid arthritis, whereas ingesting foods containing a chemical called
hydrazine can lead to systemic lupus erythematosus, an arthritic illness
associated with lupus.
There is a rare kind of arthritis called Behcet's Disease, and eating
black walnuts can provoke flare-ups in those with this uncommon ailment.
So as you see, there is a range of arthritic disorders and a variety of foods that may provoke them. The best method to address the
problem is to assess each arthritic condition and adjust one’s strategy based
on the circumstances.
The word arthritis encompasses around 100 distinct illnesses and
disorders. Since it would be hard to cover all of them in a work such as this,
we will look at the most frequent conditions: rheumatoid arthritis,
osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and gout.
There is a frequency of rheumatoid arthritis in people that have an
unusually low blood zinc level.
Several trials have been undertaken where rheumatoid arthritis
patients have been given larger dosages of zinc and demonstrated modest
improvement. However, the tests were not extensive enough to be definitive.
The effects of copper on rheumatoid arthritis have been investigated for
a long time, and although findings vary there seems to be some justification
for using copper to treat the illness, however, this therapy has been
disregarded by most medical establishments as generally unsuccessful.
Copper treatment is not discouraged though when addressed via dietary
sources, and may work for certain persons.
It is suggested that if you do
attempt copper therapy, copper-rich foods are utilized instead of copper
supplements because copper supplements can cause side effects which include a change in sense of taste and smell, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite,
abnormal blood clots, increased joint pain, chills, anemia and kidney problems,
and excess copper can cause cirrhosis of the liver in patients prone to
Wilson’s Disease.
Check with your doctor to be sure you are not prone to accumulating
extra copper in your body.
There is an enormous range of meals you may eat to enhance your
copper intake: lamb; pork; pheasant quail; duck; goose; squid; salmon; organ
meats including liver, heart, kidney, and brain; shellfish including oysters,
scallops, shrimp, lobster, clams, and crab; meat gelatin; soy protein meat
substitutes; tofu; nuts and seeds; chocolate milk; soy milk; cocoa are just a
few of the foods that are rich in copper.
Since for foods to avoid while dealing with rheumatoid arthritis, many
nutritionists and naturopaths advocate avoiding dairy products altogether, as
they appear to increase rheumatoid arthritis flare-ups.
Because of the risk of overdose,
one should be discouraged from taking dosages of vitamins that are greater than
advised without a physician’s advice.
Some vitamins and minerals might actually aggravate some illnesses, and
the focus that can be obtained by supplements can be harmful.
It is far preferable to approach
any desired increase in vitamin or mineral consumption through dietary
treatment.
There has been modest effectiveness with the dietary supplements
glucosamine and chondroitin in alleviating symptoms of pain and stiffness for
some patients with osteoarthritis.
These supplements may be bought in pharmacies and health food stores,
although the purity of the items or the amount of the active components cannot
be specified because the FDA does not regulate these supplements.
The National Institutes of Health is examining glucosamine and chondroitin,
so more should be known about the usefulness of these drugs for osteoarthritis
shortly.
Patients with osteoarthritis using blood thinners should be careful
consuming chondroitin since it might worsen the blood thinning and induce
excessive bleeding.
Fish oil supplements have been demonstrated to have some
anti-inflammatory qualities and increasing the dietary fish consumption and/or
fish oil capsules (omega 3 capsules) can occasionally lessen the inflammation of
arthritis.
With osteoarthritis there is also the worry of degeneration of
cartilage; hence persons with osteoarthritis should avoid excessive dosages of
Vitamin-A a, as there is some evidence that it leads to cartilage deterioration.
In the case of fibromyalgia, although professional data is once again
scant, there is a large number of anecdotal experiences of improvement of this
illness when particular dietary habits are followed.
Eliminating wheat, dairy, citrus, sugar, Aspertame, alcohol, caffeine,
and cigarettes seems to be uniform among individuals that have had success with
curing the ailment by dietary measures.
According to Dr. Joseph Mercola,
author of “The Total Health Program,” nine of ten sufferers of fibromyalgia are
female, and 76% of those who followed prescribed dietary recommendations had a
substantial reduction in pain.
The thing to keep in mind with fibromyalgia is that, unlike other
typical arthritic disorders, it is more of a syndrome than a disease, and most
of it may be reversed.
Making modifications to food as well as lowering stress and obtaining
enough rest can lead to a full recovery.