What are the dietary taboos for rheumatoid arthritis?

At present, there are no universal absolute dietary taboos for rheumatoid arthritis. All "must-do lists" posted online must be adjusted based on individual body reactions. There is no food that will aggravate the condition of all rheumatoid patients.

To be honest, I have met many patients who have just been diagnosed. They asked me if they should never touch seafood, beef and mutton for the rest of their lives. I also met Aunt Zhang who has been suffering from rheumatoid for 8 years. After hearing the gossip in the group, she dared not eat a bite of sea fish. After half a year, her serum Omega3 content was found to be low. It was ridiculous, and the frequency of joint swelling and pain was much higher than before. Later, she went to the nutrition department for a food intolerance test, and found that as long as she did not eat iced raw pickled seafood, she would be fine if she usually ate some steamed hairtail and yellow croaker. After three months of eating, her inflammation index had stabilized a lot.

There is indeed a lot of controversy in the academic community about the impact of diet on rheumatoid arthritis. Some cohort studies have found that high levels of refined sugar, high trans fat, and heavy drinking may increase the overall inflammation level. About 60% of patients reported eating too much milk tea, cream cakes, and fried chicken rice at one time. After spending time or drinking high-strength liquor, the symptoms of morning stiffness, joint swelling and pain will be significantly aggravated. However, nearly 30% of patients with relatively good metabolic abilities said that they occasionally eat these to satisfy their cravings without any obvious discomfort, so it is not possible to directly draw these as a red line that everyone should avoid completely. Of course, if you are taking immunosuppressants such as methotrexate, it is best not to drink alcohol, otherwise it will easily increase the burden on the liver. This is a supporting requirement that all patients taking medicine should pay attention to, and it is different from the dietary taboos of the disease itself.

There are also many people who say that rheumatoid patients should avoid high-purine foods. In fact, this is also a misunderstanding. Only rheumatoid patients who also have gout need to control their purine intake. If the disease is simple and there is no gout, there is no need to deliberately avoid foods such as tofu and mushrooms. If you avoid them blindly, you will easily become deficient in nutrients.

Speaking of rheumatoid dietary taboos, they are actually a bit like each person's unique "sensitivity trigger list." Others may touch them without incident, but you may trigger an inflammation alarm as soon as you eat them, and vice versa. If you are really not sure what you are sensitive to, just spend two or three weeks keeping a simple diet + symptom diary. If your joint discomfort worsens after eating something on any day, just avoid it next time. There is no need to eat or touch this every day. Malnutrition lowers immunity, which is not good for the condition.