Many arthritis patients are sensitive to several foods. The mechanism by which food sensitivity is involved in arthritis remains unknown. Some evidence implicates the gut flora. Some of the commonly used drugs for arthritis increase the permeability of the gut, causing it to become “leaky”, allowing larger molecules of foods to pass through than would normally be the case, causing food sensitivity. Many studies have shown that 30-40% of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients can improve substantially by using an elimination diet to identify foods that precipitate symptoms and the avoiding of these foods. Some studies have shown, that gluten and/or dairy products may be involved in this food sensitivity at some arthritis patients.
Elimination diets typically involve entirely removing the suspected food from the diet for a period of time from two weeks to two months, and waiting to determine whether symptoms resolve during that time period. If symptoms resolve after the removal of a food from the diet, then the food is reintroduced to see whether the symptom reappear.
Some people feel that cutting out ‘acidic fruit’ such as oranges, lemons and grapefruit helps arthritis. Others believe that vegetables from the so-called nightshade family (which includes several foods – potatoes, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers and eggplants) are bad for arthritis. There is no scientific evidence that leaving out either of these groups of fruits and vegetables helps arthritis, and such diets may have the undesired effect of reducing the beneficial antioxidants in the diet.
Food sensitivity is highly individual, and varies from person to person. Elimination diet should be done under the supervision of your doctor to eliminate the risk of nutrient deficiency.
Food intolerance tests which test for IGG Antibodies against 200 foods are available at our center
Recently we presented our findings - results of the immune pro food intolerance test on 35 patients with arthritis. About 100 % were intolerant to cow's milk and 85% to gluten / wheat. Eliminating these foods has shown to be beneficial to majority of patients.