Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that affects joints. Sufferers have progressive joint damage along with pain and stiffness. It affects women three times more than men.
But there is hope. There are medications that halt the progression by slowing down immune responses. While that doesn’t sound great at a time of COVID19, the medications work and people are able to resume a “normal” life. There has also been success in alternative remedies (diet changes) as well.
People trialed a vegan diet for 3.5 months, and then switched to an egg-free lactovegetarian diet for 9.5 months. The result showed SIGNIFICANT improvement in morning stiffness (in as fast as 4 weeks), grip strength, joint tenderness, swelling, and a drop in disability. Some weight loss was also seen (bonus!). The reason behind the improvement is that their chronic inflammation reduced (seen in inflammatory markers in their blood).
But how could diet affect RA? It’s an autoimmune condition. I use an example in my book, RIGHT Diet for Autoimmunity, where autoimmunity is simply a case of mistaken identity. The body is fighting foreign invaders. It’s normal. But sometimes in the case of mistaken identity, we get a horrible accident – like friendly fire. We accidentally hurt one of our own.
There is this bacteria, Proteus mirabilis, that’s sometimes found in urine (more women than men). In some cases this bacteria triggers an immune response. There is a molecule in this bacteria that somewhat resembles molecules in our joints. So when an immune response launches we have anti-Proteus antibodies (against the bacteria) that inadvertently may begin the process of damage to the joint tissues. And then the process keeps progressing. What started out as a very normal defense process turns into a life-long battle that never was supposed to be.
Researchers wondered what would happen if we could remove that bacteria from RA sufferers; would that cause a decrease in the inflammatory process? Typically a bacteria causes an inflammatory response after some type of infection (like a UTI). That infection is the result of bacteria coming from fecal flora into the bladder. So, the high impact change would be to change the fecal flora…and that can be accomplished by changing our diet!
So you see … step by step… the high impact changes can come from diet tweaks (changes in our gut flora). For over 2 decades we’ve studied gut flora and have seen when people shift away from the standard American diet to a vegan or vegetarian diet, there are SIGNIFICANT changes in the microbiome. We’ve also seen that plant-based diets showed a significant drop in anti-Proteus antibodies, in fact as a bonus there were other beneficial changes to the urine’s composition when shifting to a plant-based diet (like higher number of anti-cancer lignans).
While we see a PROFOUND influence from diet and RA being treated with vegetarian diets, people still need more support and education to learn how to stay on a plant-based diet. That’s where health coaches, nutritionists, dieticians, and nutritional therapists can help to support people until good practices, meal plans, and food choices become NATURAL HABIT!
If you know someone suffering from RA, tell them there is hope with shifting to a plant-based diet and you know a great nutritional therapist that can help them explore a new way of eating!
