Why foods are important to avoid arthritis? What are the foods to avoid with arthritis?
Arthritis is an inflammatory disease resulting from an overreaction of the body immune system towards specific components of joints and bones, which the immune system due to an “error or malfunction”, recognizes as not of its own.
Among other treatments to cure arthritis such as anti-inflammatory drugs, doctors have highlighted the importance of some foods to avoid with arthritis.
The digestive tract is permeable to some components of the digested food called antigens. These antigens (may be proteins or peptides) appear in the blood stream attached to antibodies (proteins part of the body immune system) by forming so, what it’s called an immune complex. These immune complexes, through the blood flow, are deposited in joints.
Once there, they activate the rest of the immune system, and the result is an inflammatory response located in joints, and causing pain, swelling, stiffness and loss of mobility.
To avoid all this inflammatory cascade which further damages the already arthritic joints, is important to know which foods to avoid with arthritis.
Particular kind of foods exaggerate an inflammatory response because of some irritant components they contain.
These foods have to be removed from the diet in order to keep inflammation and arthritis at a bay.
1. Fried and processed food (reach with trans fats) – these foods help in inducing the inflammation by damaging the lining of blood vessels. The damaged cells are recognized as foreign structures, and they become target of the inflammatory system, by inducing the inflammatory cascade described above.
3. White bread - White bread contains too much sugar, and it is quickly breaks down into sugar. Sugar leads to inflammatory response, with the mechanism described above.
4. Cheeseburgers and dairy products - Saturated animal fats contain an compound (arachidonic acid) which is used by the body to create inflammatory agents. Studies have shown that a diet with lower with saturated fats actually improve arthritic symptoms.
5. Alcohol - Alcohol is a naturally irritant to our insides, but it causes no long-lasting damages when taken in low amounts. When alcohol is taken in large doses, bacteria can pass more easily through the intestines to the blood, by initiating irritation and inflammation. Also, when metabolized, it is all sugar. And sugar itself is a kind of food to avoid with arthritis.
6. Foods rich with Omega-6 fatty acids (vegetable oil or heavy seeds) - consuming more Omega-6 fatty acids than Omega-3 fatty acids cause imbalance which leads to inflammation.
7. Milk- Milk can cause inflammation due to the “foreign” proteins it contains.
8. Gluten - Even without the diagnosis of celiac disease, a lot of people reported feeling better after eliminating gluten form their diet. Through there are no conclusive results on how gluten worsens arthritis, it is believed that it can act like a major antigen which can trigger the inflammatory system.
Arthritis is a disease, which is to be fought not only via drugs, but also via diet.