Which Diet Helps Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Gluten free vegan diets may help patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study made by Arthritis Research & Therapy. This is good news because these patients have increased cardiovascular disease and mortality.

Researchers involved 66 patients which were divided in two groups:

Group A with 38 patients assigned to a gluten free vegan diet.

Group B with 28 patients assigned to a well-balanced non-vegan diet.

The vegan diet included nuts, vegetables, fruits, and root vegetables. The well-balanced diet included 10-15% protein, 55-60% carbohydrate, and up to 30% fat.

The results showed that vegan diets in rheumatoid arthritis induced decreased LDL and oxLDL (oxidized low-density lipoprotein). Overall changes are supposed to be atheroprotective and a diet intervention like the one from the study has ameliorating effects for rheumatoid arthritis patients.

This disease doesn’t have a cure, but there are methods that help manage the health condition like surgical intervention, joint stress management, occupational and physical therapy, and drugs.