Vegan diet can ease arthritis pain, finds study
A new study has found that a
low-fat vegan diet, without calorie restrictions, improves joint pain in
patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The participants of the study have
also experienced weight loss and improved cholesterol levels.
The study was published in the journal, 'American Journal of
Lifestyle Medicine'. "A plant-based diet could be the prescription to
alleviate joint pain for millions of people suffering from rheumatoid
arthritis," said Neal Barnard, MD, lead author of the study and
president of the Physicians Committee.
"And all of the side effects, including weight loss and lower cholesterol, are only beneficial," she added.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a common autoimmune disease that typically
causes joint pain, swelling, and eventually permanent joint damage.
At the outset of the Physicians Committee's study, participants
were asked to use a visual analog scale (VAS) to rate the severity of
their worst joint pain in the preceding two weeks, from "no pain" to
"pain as bad as it could possibly be."
Each participant's Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS28) was also
calculated based on tender joints, swollen joints, and C-reactive
protein values, which indicate inflammation in the body. DAS28 increases
with rheumatoid arthritis severity.
During the study, 44 adults previously diagnosed with rheumatoid
arthritis were assigned to one of two groups for 16 weeks. The first
group followed a vegan diet for four weeks, with the elimination of
additional foods for three weeks, then reintroduction of the eliminated
foods individually over nine weeks.
No meals were provided, and participants handled their own food
preparation and purchases, with guidance from the research team. The
second group followed an unrestricted diet but was asked to take a daily
placebo capsule, which had no effect on the study. Then the groups
switched diets for 16 weeks.
During the vegan phase of the study, DAS28 decreased 2 points on
average, indicating a greater reduction in joint pain, compared to a
decrease of 0.3 points in the placebo phase. The average number of
swollen joints decreased from 7.0 to 3.3 in the vegan phase, while that
number actually increased from 4.7 to 5 in the placebo phase. For those
who completed the study, VAS ratings also improved significantly in the
vegan phase, compared with the placebo phase.
The vegan diet also led to greater decreases in DAS28 in a
sub-analysis that excluded individuals who increased medications during
the study and another subanalysis limited to participants making no
medication changes.
In addition to reductions in pain and swelling, body weight
decreased by about 14 pounds on average on the vegan diet, compared with
a gain of about 2 pounds on the placebo diet. There were also greater
reductions in total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol during the vegan phase.