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Arthritis is a common health problem that causes inflammation and pain in your joints. It can cause severe damage to your joints, bones, and various other body parts as well, depending on the type of arthritis you have.
There are different types of arthritis that causes different kinds of disease. Osteoarthritis causes a breakdown in the cartilage, while Rheumatoid arthritis causes the immune system to attack the joints of your body.
What Are The Causes Of Arthritis?
Here are the risk factors what causes arthritis in our body.
Family History
If you have arthritis running in your family, then there is a high chance that you will, too, have it.
Age
Most arthritis increases with aging, so even if you don’t have it now, you may have it later in life.
Your Sex
Most women are affected by osteoarthritis, unlike men. But on the other hand, men are most likely to be affected by gout, unlike women.
Joint History
If you have injured your joints somehow, playing a sport or even falling down. Then it is likely that you are going to develop arthritis in that joint later in life.
Obesity
If you are obese, then your excess weight is putting pressure on your joints, more specifically on your knees, hips, and spine. This might cause arthritis to form on the joints. People with obesity constantly have a higher risk factor of developing arthritis.
Food And Beverages You Should Avoid With Arthritis
Here are a few food groups you should definitely avoid if you have arthritis or even if you want to reduce it.
Additional Sugar
If you have arthritis, you should avoid excess sugar in your food at any cost. Food categories like ice cream, candy, soft drinks, and even an unlikely option, barbecue sauce, have been found to have excess sugar.
You are having excess soft drinks and desserts increases your chances of worsening your Rheumatoid arthritis. Even fructose drinks like fruit juices also cause arthritis if consumed in a higher amount.
Red And Processed Meats
In some research, it has been found that red or even processed meats give rise to inflammation and arthritis symptoms. They show inflammations such as Interleukin, C-reactive protein, and homocysteine.
It has been seen that a purely plant-based diet actually reduces or improves arthritis. So trying to reduce excess red meat or processed meat will be good for your arthritis.
Gluten Containing Foods
Gluten is a particular food group that is present in wheat, barley, and rye. It has been seen that gluten increases inflammation in your body, so it is highly suggested that you avoid gluten to reduce symptoms of arthritis.
So it has been found that consuming a vegan diet free of any gluten actually benefits the people dealing with arthritis. A gluten-free diet helps reduce what are autoimmune disorders like Rheumatoid arthritis.
Highly Processed Foods
If you have arthritis then highly processed food such as cereals, fast food or baked foods are harmful to your arthritis. They are high in added sugar, and preservatives, that cause inflammation in your joints.
Western food diets are found to be highly processed that heavily increase the risk of rheumatoid arthritis and even obesity.
Highly processed food is also the cause of other diseases such as heart attack, high blood sugar, and high hemoglobin in the blood.
Alcohol
Alcohol has been found to be a cause that worsens any arthritis symptoms, so anyone with inflammation should strictly avoid any consumption of alcohol.
It causes damage to the spinal structure in anyone with axial spondyloarthritis. High alcohol intake also causes severe gout inflammation. It also causes osteoarthritis, though sufficient study is yet to be conducted.
Certain Vegetable Oils
If your diet has an imbalanced ratio of omega 6 and omega 3 fats then there would be an increase in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.
In the Western countries, a low ratio of omega 3 fat and a high omega 6 fat diet is the cause of higher cases of inflammation.
If you reduce the intake the use of omega 6 fats such as vegetable oil and increase the intake of omega 3 fat such as fatty fish, then you would be able to control arthritis.
Excess Salt In Food
You should try to cut back on high salt intake with your food. Food like shrimp, pizza, cheese, processed meats, and many other processed food items have a high salt percentage in them.
A study was conducted on mice, and it was found that arthritis was more severe in mice that fed on a high salt diet rather than the ones fed on a normal amount of salt.
High sodium intake increases the risk of arthritis. High sodium intake increases the chances of inflammation, cartilage breakdown, and bone breakage.
High AGEs Intake
AGE means advanced glycation end products, these are food molecules created through reaction among protein and sugars. These molecules exist naturally in uncooked meat and also form from certain cooking techniques.
The high amounts of protein, fat, fried, roasted, grilled, or broiled food are the ones rich in AGEs. They may be bacon, steak, french fries, hot dogs, or American cheese are rich in AGEs, and should be avoided.
AGEs in high amount causes oxidative stress and inflammation in your body. People with inflammation and arthritis have been shown to have higher amounts of AGEs than the ones who don’t have AGEs.
Conclusion
If you are someone dealing with Arthritis for years and don’t know what to do, Might suggest you take a look at your diet.
There are certain food and beverages you should definitely avoid consuming as they can lead to arthritis.
Hope you find this guide helpful to know what to eat and what not to.
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