Eat This and You'll Never Get Arthritis?

Eat This and You'll Never Get Arthritis?

A diet rich in vitamin C when you're young could
protect you from the ravages of arthritis when you're
old.

Foods that are high in vitamin C appear to protect
people against inflammatory polyarthritis, a form of
rheumatoid arthritis that involves two or more joints,
Reuters reports of new research from the University of
Manchester in the United Kingdom.

The opposite also holds true. Those whose diets have
the least amount of vitamin C are three times more
likely to develop the condition than their peers who
consumed the highest amounts.

The study: More than 20,000 participants, all of whom
were free from arthritis when the study began, kept
detailed diaries of the foods and drinks they
consumed. The analysis focused on 73 subjects who
developed inflammatory polyarthritis during the
follow-up period between 1993 and 2001, as well as 146
similar subjects who remained arthritis-free, reports
Reuters.

The results: People who had a low intake of fruits,
vegetables, and vitamin C also had a higher risk of
inflammatory polyarthritis, specifically three times
the risk compared with those who consumed the highest
amounts of foods with vitamin C, reports lead study
author Dr. Dorothy J. Pattison. Low intake of vitamin
E and beta-carotene were only weakly linked with an
increased risk of inflammatory polyarthritis, notes
Reuters.

The contradiction: Previous studies have shown that
high doses of vitamin C worsens osteoarthritis in
guinea pigs who already have the disease.
Osteoarthritis, which is more common than rheumatoid
arthritis, is seen more frequently in older people.
Pattison explained the seeming contradiction by noting
that the two types of arthritis are caused by
different physiologic problems. Rheumatoid arthritis
is an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks
itself, while osteoarthritis is a degenerative process
that worsens over time.

The top 10 foods richest in vitamin C are:
Papaya
Broccoli
Orange juice from frozen concentrate
Strawberries
Oranges
Kiwi
Cantaloupe
Grapefruit juice
Raw mango
Raw peppers

The study findings were reported in the Annals of the
Rheumatic Dise