People across the world suffer from joint pain and they have to deal with it daily, which negatively affects the quality of their lives. The majority of the time, their movement gets limited due to it and so, if science can provide a treatment for this joint pain, a lot of people would get it. Patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis have to deal with inflammation, pain, and swelling around their joints. Although this condition mostly affects the areas around the joints of the hands and feet, it can occur around any other joint as well.
A recent study has shown that a combination of diets can help ease the pain.
Turbarones/Pexels | It's time to put an end to joint pain with good food
The Curious Case Of Food And Rheumatoid Arthritis
Several studies have found a positive connection between plant-based and anti-inflammatory diets which result in lowered joint pain. So, elimination diets work to remove and reintroduce suspect foods while a vegan diet, which is the strictest form of a vegetarian diet, limits the person to only consuming plant-based foods.
The Experiment
The study consisted of participants that followed a vegan diet for four weeks. After these four weeks were up, they move on to an elimination diet. The participants independently started getting rid of trigger foods such as glutinous grains, potatoes, sugary items, soy products, alcohol, and so on. This went on for three weeks as they followed a combination of vegan and elimination diets before slowly reintroducing the trigger food one by one for the next nine weeks. During this time, if any food resulted in joint pain, the participant would eliminate it.
Marianna/Pexels | The foods that didn’t cause joint pain were kept in the diet.
The Final Verdict
This study may have laid down the foundation for a possible treatment but some experts believe that more research needs to be done on this topic before making any substantiated and conclusive claims. The original study was conducted on a small group of only 44 participants with rheumatoid arthritis, and some of them did not even follow the protocol properly.
Jonathan Borba/Pexels | Though experts may not be impressed, you can still give it a try
For researchers, this study is considered to be a pilot study, which can lead to proper research taking place in the future.
