Arthritis: Doctor gives advice on best foods to help ease pain
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In addition, inflamed joints can be swollen and feel tender. Moreover, arthritis can lead to stiffness and reduce a person’s mobility. To help reduce levels of inflammation, it’s important to pick your drinks wisely. According to Health and Human Research, one drink “most likely to cause painful arthritis symptoms” is any type of energy drink. Loaded with caffeine and sugar, energy drinks are said to contribute to inflammation.
“Caffeine, in particular, has been found to trigger gout attacks,” said the researchers.
“Energy drinks are also highly acidic,” they added. “And some research indicates that highly acidic drinks can strip your bones of necessary calcium and hasten the degradation of joints.”
Arthritis sufferers may also want to avoid drinking beer if they want to avoid a flare-up of painful symptoms.
“Beer can be troublesome for several reasons,” the researchers noted.
Firstly, the fructose in beer is said to be broken down by the liver, which causes the release of chemicals called purines.
“Purines then metabolise into uric acid – the culprit behind gout,” the researchers explained.
Beer also contains gluten, which some people can be highly sensitive to.
Plus, beer is an alcoholic beverage, which is also known to raise inflammation levels.
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The third drink may surprise you, but the team at Health and Human Research suggest that “fruit juices” could trigger painful joints.
“Fruit juice is troublesome in general because it contains a lot of sugar, but none of the fibre that you’d get by eating the whole fruit,” the researchers explained.
“The problem for people with arthritis is that juice often contains fructose.
“As fructose is digested, it creates those purines that later increase the level of uric acid in your body.”
Dr Vivian Bykerk listed different types of inflammatory arthritis:
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Spondyloarthropathies
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Reactive arthritis
- Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS)
- Sacroiliitis
- Gout
- Calcium pyrophosphate dehydrate deposition disease (CPPD)
- Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR).
“In a healthy person, inflammation is a limited and ultimately helpful response to fight off a foreign substance,” Dr Bykerk began.
“Once the infection or virus has been eliminated, inflammation and the swelling, heat and tenderness that comes with it resolves.
“In a person with inflammatory arthritis, the immune response has ‘gone wrong’,” she explained.
“[The immune system] lacks the ability to self-regulate or stop, and the immune system turns on one’s self…
“The body cannot distinguish between its own healthy cells and tissues (i.e. itself) and a foreign substance.”
Inflammation can then chronically affect the joint tissues, tendons, skin, eyes, heart and/or lungs.
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