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Rheumatoid arthritis patients may be able to improve their symptoms by switching to a vegan and gluten-free diet, a study has found.
The researchers' findings were based on a small study group of patients with the disease and they are not yet sure why the diet change appeared to work. However, the research team, which demonstrated changes to the immune system that may underlie the beneficial effect, believes it has identified an area that would repay further study.
"I think it is a quite unexpected and interesting finding," said Prof Johan Frostegard at the Karolinska Institutet rheumatology unit in Stockholm, who led the study. "The effects on the immune system are quite new."
Rheumatoid arthritis is more common in women than men and can afflict people of any age. It is caused by the immune system attacking the lining of the patient's joints, causing them to become inflamed and painful.
Over time the damage can restrict movement. At present there is no cure, although the disease can be slowed down if diagnosed early.
Over a year Frostegard and his team followed 30 patients who kept up the new diet for at least three months and 28 on a normal diet, monitoring the progress of the disease and levels of various chemicals in the blood.
By the end of the study the vegans had a modest improvement in the number of swollen joints (down from an average of 5.3 to 4.3).
There was also a large drop in the level of a chemical in the blood called CRP, which doctors use to measure inflammatory activity in the body. There was no significant improvement in the group who ate a normal diet. At the same time, the vegans developed a lower body mass index, had lower levels of bad cholesterol and higher levels of immune system factors that potentially inhibit the inflammatory reaction.
The research was reported in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy.
