The link between food and autoimmune disease just keeps getting stronger. Someone asked me recently about rhumatoid arthritis and food sensitivities, and the punch line is that there appears to be a link and it appears that for some subset of people living with RA changing their diet can slow or reverse the disease.
This is a 2006 study showing that food issues and odd gut flora are more typical in people with rhumatoid arthritis.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16484508
An older study that showed that a subset of patients fed a hypoallergenic diet, who later had milk re-introduced got better and then worse. If you click on this one, note the references at the end of the article. This issue is well studied.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1004647/?tool=pubmed
And finally my favorite type of study. Someone took a bunch of people with rhumatoid arthritis and put one group in a facility where they relaxed and ate a normal diet and another group on a strict gluten-free vegan (no milk) diet. Then they objectively tested them. The group on the vegan diet got better.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1681264
There is some criticism of this study which is included in this article, which still indicates that for some people with RA the diet may help.
http://www.vndpg.org/articles/Vegetarian-Nutrition-For-Rheumatoid-Arthritis.php
And unlike a lot of other autoimmune diseases where we are just learning the importance of diet, we knew this might be an issue even before 1985
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1001783/
Part of the issue is also the low serum Vitamin D levels. So save the sunblock for your face not your arms and legs. Get those babies into the noonday sun….for 20 minutes. Then slather on the sunblock. Here is a meta-analysis from Denmark. I love these because they look at all the other analyses.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22113499
And in case your doctor lives in a sealed bag…underground this is getting play in less obscure journals as well…like Arthritis Today.
http://www.arthritistoday.org/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis/nutrition-and-ra/ra-food-allergies.php
Do autoimmune issues cluster in families? Yes again. Which is another reason to suspect food sensitivities.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22385519
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15695302
Now, I am not a doctor, but given that a low-fat gluten-free, corn-free pescavegan diet (I think I made up pescavegan…what I mean is that you eat some omega-3 rich fatty fish) is positively linked to helping heart disease and autoimmune issues, I might try either the juice fasts so popular in Europe.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/496468-what-are-the-health-benefits-of-a-juice-diet/
Or just a plain old fish and veggies and fruit only diet.
But work with your doctor. And if she doesn’t listen, print off the articles and educate her, and if she STILL doesn’t listen…to your plan to avoid sugar and eat more vegetables and fish and get rid of dairy and gluten…a diet generally linked to better health even if you don’t cure your arthritis…
You may want to consider a new doctor.
