More Links to Dietary Health Benefits

A Swedish study released last week indicates a relationship between the consumption of certain types of foods and the reduction of inflammation in the body. Even though this study specifically deals with rheumatoid arthritis patients, the results can also be applied to the effects of inflammation in all of us. Research continues to show that the bodys inflammatory response triggered by poor dietary and other lifestyle choices is one of the primary building blocks of all types of disease.

It is interesting that many of the media reports that give a favorable light to lifestyle and dietary health factors come from Europe and other parts of the world, rather than from here in the United States. The controlling influence of the FDA and many in conventional medicine tends to discourage the reporting of research and clinical trials that demonstrate natural health successes, while the benefits of such tactics as pharmaceuticals and immunizations are often the darlings of the press. Some of those behind this bias would have us Americans simply pop our pills whenever we are sick without thinking it through or asking any questions. Just another example of the treatment of disease with hazardous (and profitable) chemicals rather than prevention of disease through a proactive lifestyle that leads to wellness.


Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Display An Anti-Inflammatory Response To The Vegan Diet
18 Mar 2008

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who eat a gluten-free vegan diet could be better protected against heart attacks and stroke. RA is a major risk factor for these cardiovascular diseases, but a gluten-free vegan diet was shown to lower cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and oxidized LDL (OxLDL), as well as raising the levels of natural antibodies against the damaging compounds in the body that cause symptoms of the chronic inflammatory disease rheumatoid arthritis, such as phosphorylcholine. These findings are reported in the open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy.

The idea that we can influence our health by changing our eating habits has become a fashionable idea among lifestyle and consumer magazines. There is evidence that dietary changes can bring about health benefits but specific results are not widespread.

Now, Johan Frostegard of the Rheumatology Unit at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm and colleagues divided sixty-six RA patients randomly into two groups. They randomly assigned 38 of the volunteers to eat a gluten-free vegan diet, and the other 28 a well-balanced but non-vegan diet for one year. They analysed the levels of fatty, lipid molecules in blood samples using routine analytical methods at regular periods. They also measured oxLDL and anti-phosphorylcholine (antiPC) factor at the beginning of the experiment, at 3 months and again at 12 months.

The researchers found that the gluten-free vegan diet not only reduced LDL and oxLDL levels and raised antiPC antibodies but lowered the body-mass index (BMI) of the volunteers in that group. Levels of other fatty molecules, including triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) stayed the same. In contrast, none of the indicators differed significantly for the control groups on the conventional healthy diet.

AntiPC antibodies are studied within CVDIMMUNE, an European consortium led by Dr Frostegard with the hypothesis that such antibodies can protect against cardiovascular disease and can be used as diagnostic and therapeutic factors.

Frostegard and colleagues have now shown that diet could be used to improve the long-term health of people with rheumatoid arthritis. They concede that a bigger study group will be needed to discern which particular aspects of the diet help the most.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/100932.php