Diet and Osteoarthritis

Diet and Osteoarthritis
When you mention diet and osteoarthritis, many people think of weight loss. While weight loss is important to many osteoarthritis patients, we want to highlight the importance of what we eat in our daily diet and how this may contribute to or help osteoarthritis.

In recent years, prominent medical researchers have investigated the connection between diet and osteoarthritis more deeply and learned that nutritional intake from the daily diet make a difference. What we eat affects not only the amount of osteoarthritis which can occur, but also the progression of osteoarthritis 1-3 . This should come as no surprise as numerous diseases and health conditions have been linked to dietary intake or lack of dietary intake of foods. Birth defects occur due to a lack of intake of folic acid, osteoporosis due to a lack of calcium and vitamin D3 and cardiovascular disease due to an excess of saturated fats all are a result of improper diet.

Important foods for people with osteoarthritis are ones that contain anti-oxidants, flavonoids and essential fatty acids, particularly omega-3s. Each of these has been shown to have beneficial effects for people with osteoarthritis in studies of diet and osteoarthritis.

Anti-oxidants from diet and osteoarthritis … A national 8-year study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health proved that consuming more of certain anti-oxidants slowed down the progression of osteoarthritis 4 . Food sources with higher anti-oxidant values include citrus fruits and juices, nuts, vegetables and whole grains which provide the anti-oxidant vitamins C and E.

Flavonoids from diet and osteoarthritis … Flavonoids have been found to be natural anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories. Specific foods with high values in the particular flavonoids which may be helpful in osteoarthritis include: apples, blueberries, green tea, broccoli, tomatoes and soy. In cultures where flavonoid intake is high, there is less chronic disease like osteoarthritis.

Omega-3s from diet and osteoarthritis … Several test tube studies of cartilage-containing cells have found that omega-3 fatty acids decrease inflammation and reduce the activity of enzymes that destroy cartilage in osteoarthritis. 5 In addition, several clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis patients have shown that omega-3s help patients feel better with this type of arthritis. 6 Good sources of omega 3 fatty acids include oily fish and dark green leafy vegetables.

However, improving your diet and osteoarthritis condition is not simple. In fact, if you were to make 100% of your diet anti-oxidant or flavonoid rich foods, you still would not derive enough to nutritionally manage your osteoarthritis. Adding to this, numerous studies indicate older adults often do not adequately digest and absorb these needed nutrients even if they have eaten the appropriate foods. Therefore, products like Limbrel which provide concentrated amounts of the most needed flavonoids and anti-oxidants, are necessary for the daily nutritional management of osteoarthritis.

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3. Ham KD, Loeser RF, Lindgren BR, Carlson CS (2002) Arthritis Rheum., 46(7):1956-64.
4. McAlindon TE, Jacques P, Zhang Y, et al. 1996a. Arthritis Rheum 39(4):648-656.
5. Curtis CL, Rees SG, Cramp J, Flannery CR, Hughes CE, Little CB, Williams R, Wilson C, Dent CM, Harwood JL, Caterson B. (2002) Proc Nutr Soc., 61(3):381-9.
6. Kremer JM. 2000. w-3 Fatty acid supplements in rheumatoid arthritis1,2. Am J Clin Nutr. 71(suppl):349S–51S