VeggieSensations.com

The word Arthritis means inflammation of a joint. Arthritis is not a genetic disease, nor is it a part of growing older. There is a cause to the painful joint diseases. First of all there are two forms of arthritis "degenerative" and "inflammatory". The degenerative form is commonly called Osteoarthritis. This form can by helped with a change of diet, glucosamine and some people may wish to try acupuncture.

The inflammatory form of arthritis is known as rheumatoid and also Lupus, psoriatic, and ankylosing spondylitis. Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common of the inflammatory types of arthritis. Some researchers believe rheumatoid arthritis did not exist anywhere in the world before 1800 and as recent as 1957, no case of rheumatoid arthritis could be found in Africa which was during a time when the African people followed diets based on grains and vegetables. People with inflammatory arthritis like rheumatoid can experience a dramatic change in their condition with in 4 weeks of eating strictly a vegan diet void of animal protein and low in fat.

More people are afflicted with osteoarthritis, where the joints deteriorate with use, than rheumatoid arthritis which is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the joints. Osteoarthritis is more common in countries where animal products such as meat, milk and cheese is consumed in their daily lives. In the United States 2% of women younger that 45 years old have osteoarthritis. By the age of 65 and older osteoarthritis jumps to 70%. That is because of the continued consumption of animal products continues to deteriorate the natural cushion in the joint causing bone to rub on bone.

An animal base diet damages the joints by the animal proteins infiltrating through the intestinal wall which has been damaged by the very same proteins and fats. Your intestine forms an effective barrier to separate intestinal contents from the interior of the body and blood. This barrier prevents foreign proteins from passing through the intestinal wall. The intestinal mucosa absorbs and digests nutrients, turning large complex molecules into small simple ones. Normally the small molecules are allowed to pass through the intestinal wall. Large molecules, if they were to pass through the intestinal wall, can act as antigens causing an immune reaction. Infections, toxins and animal proteins can cause gaps in the intestinal barrier and allow large molecules to pass into the blood. This is referred to as a "leaky gut." People with inflammatory arthritis have also been shown to have inflammation of the intestinal tract.

Lymphoid tissue protects the body from antigens that get through the intestinal barrier. A diet that is too high in fat, cholesterol, and animal protein can also decrease the capacities of the lymphoid tissue to destroy invading antigens that make it through the intestinal wall. A diet containing dairy and other animal products causes inflammation of the intestinal surfaces and thereby increases the passage of dietary and/or bacterial antigens through the intestinal wall. Animal protein can cause the body to make antibodies that are not solely specific to that foreign protein, but also interact with similar human proteins. This mechanism is known as molecular mimicry. The body attacks itself resulting in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Molecular mimicry in rheumatoid arthritis has been identified with cow's milk. One analysis showed that the amino acid residues 141-157 of bovine albumin were essentially the same as the amino acids found in human collagen in the joints. The antibodies our body synthesizes to attack the foreign cow's milk proteins, end up attacking the joint tissues because of shared sequences of amino acids found in human cartilage and cows milk proteins.

A vegan diet (one with no animal products) has been found to change the microbial flora in the intestines which helps to heal a "leaky gut" and in turn reduces inflammation of the joints. Fasting will make the intestine less leaky and will improve rheumatoid arthritis, but if people return to a diet with dairy products, the intestines becomes permeable again and the arthritis returns. To have maximum improvement in a leaky gut and arthritis, a diet should be devoid of animal products and also very low in fat. Dietary fat causes injury to the intestine and increases its permeability. People who have become vegans and have failed to have improvement in their arthritis have been eating diets high in vegetable oils, which are know to damage intestinal integrity.

Most doctors prescribe Motrin or Advil to reduce the inflammation and reduce pain. They may also advise people to loose weight. These common over the counter medications have been shown to damage joints. Other helpful products for the relief and repair of arthritis are collagen and glucosamine. The cartilage that covers the connecting surfaces of two bones has two components. One is proteoglycans and the other is collagen. Proteoglycans provide elasticity and stiffness on compression; collagen provides the strength. A nutritional supplement made from seashells, called glucosamine is good for proteoglycans. Glucosamine can lead to long-lasting pain reduction and functional improvement by building cartilage, reducing enzymatic destruction of the cartilage, and by providing anti-inflammatory effects. Glucosamine also acts to prevent the death of cartilage cells not only halting joint destruction, but reversing it. People with healthy joints should not be taking glucosamine. Often glucosamine is packaged with chondroitin which is a byproduct of cow cartilage. The concern with this is that this cow material may contain infectious microbes, such as those that have been found to cause mad cow disease.

Vegetable oils, including those of the omega-3 and omega-6 variety, are particularly strong suppressors of the immune system. Oils like fish oil and primrose oil has been used to suppress the pain and inflammation of arthritis, but they also suppress the immune system. Suppression of the immune system prevents it from doing its work of removing invading foreign proteins. Low-fat diets have been shown to retard the development of autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

The best action for all form of arthritis and autoimmune diseases is a low fat, plant base diet with absolutely no animal products especially milk and cheese. Milk is just a liquid cow and cheese is the liquid cow concentrated.

Copyright by VeggieSensations.com 4/28/08

References:

The McDougall Newsletter April 2004 "How to Prevent and Treat Degenerative (Osteo) Arthritis"

The McDougall Newsletter June 2006 "Arthritis"

The McDougall Newsletter "Diet: The Only Real Hope for Arthritis"