Dietary Guidelines for Rheumatoid Arthritis
November 4, 2008
An autoimmune disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis leads to chronic inflammation of joints of the various parts of the body. This is a disease that causes the tissues around the joints to swell. It can affect other parts of body also. Rheumatoid arthritis is referred to as auto immune disease because in it the body tissues are attacked by the body’s own immune system.
Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis is associated with pain. The pain comes from the swellings in the joints and the surrounding tissues. Strain or excess physical activity on the joints can also increase the pain. How intense the pain is varies from one person to the other. The mobility of the joint is also greatly affected.
This disease can progress easily to affect other organs of the body such as the skin, lungs, digestive tract, kidneys, eyes, heart and blood vessels.
Causes of Rheumatoid Arthritis
The causes of Rheumatoid arthritis include the following: hormones, genetic factors, infections (bacterial or viral) and environmental factors. It is believed that there are some dietary factors involved also. This makes it important to for the implementation of dietary programmes to manage the disease.
Diet and Rheumatoid Arthritis
There is a complex link between rheumatoid arthritis diet and the disease. This is because diet could affect the symptoms of the disease. For that matter certain guidelines should be followed to avoid side effects that may arise out of improper diet programmes. Food rich in nutrients are very necessary in order to prevent these disorders. The diet of patient of the disease should include fruits and fibre.
The patient should eat a range of foods that will provide the necessary nutrients that will support good health. The second thing is to maintain an ideal weight. More weight will put more strain on the joints. If the strain is less, the pain is less. Therefore foods with high fat content should be avoided. This will lead to high cholesterol levels.
Fibre and starch are good for rheumatoid arthritis. This provides the needed energy. Excessive sugar can be harmful as it supplies unwanted calories causing weight gain. Sodium consumption should be reduced and alcohol should be avoided because it interferes with arthritis medication.


























