Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis with Lifestyle Changes

In this episode, Shelli Gardner tells us about how she has improved her symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis through yoga, diet, and exercise.  One would never guess that Shelli had rheumatoid arthritis by looking at her.  She has no deformities in her joints and she is limber, instead of stiff!  After she read the China Study, among other books, she decided to avoid traditional medications used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (and all their side effects) and instead practice yoga (despite the extreme pain she was experiencing) and cut out processed sugars and animal-products from her diet.

Plant-based diets have been used to treat auto-immune disease quite successfully.  There have been some studies that have demonstrated the positive effects of a plant-based diet on rheumatoid arthritis.

I was looking at an article on the website of the Arthritis Foundation titled “Can Vegan or Vegetarian Diets Help Reduce Arthritis Inflammation?  Small studies show some benefits and potential pitfalls.”  The author first goes through studies which have shown vegetarian diets beneficial for rheumatoid arthritis.  A study was published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine in 2015.  Six hundred participants followed a vegan diet for three weeks which significantly reduced C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation. In a study of 53 participants published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in 2010, the patients followed a vegan diet for three and a half months and experienced improvement in joint pain, morning stiffness and grip strength compared to a control group who had no dietary restrictions.  The author then goes on to talk about “pitfalls” of a vegetarian diet including possible  vitamin B12 and vitamin D deficiency.  Both these vitamins can be supplemented in multivitamins, and vitamin D can be obtained from the sun.  I do not see this as a major pitfall, and taking a multivitamin or B12 supplement is a small price to pay for improved joint mobility!  (1)

There has been research indicating that colonization of Proteus Mirabalis (bacteria) in the urinary tract may be the cause of rheumatoid arthritis.  People with rheumatoid arthritis are more often colonized with Proteus  (in their urine) than people who do not have it.  A molecule in Proteus has a similar structure to a molecule in our joints.  Our antibodies mistaken this joint molecule for Proteus, start attacking it, leading to joint destruction.  Changing to a vegan diet reduces the amount of Proteus in the fecal flora, and therefore, in the urine, since fecal bacteria is usually the source of urinary tract infections.  (2)

Clint Paddison has a TED talk online about how he cured rheumatoid arthritis with a plant based diet.  He created an acronym for the causes of rheumatoid arthritis,  “BLAME”. B stands for bacterial overgrowth (of unhealthy bacteria in the gut).  L stands for leaky gut, or small holes in the intestine that leak particles of food which are seen as antigens by your body creating an immune response.  A is for acid levels, which in people with rheumatoid arthritis is low, causing them to be unable to break down the proteins in the body, which the body later recognizes as antigens eliciting an immune response.  M stands for molecular mimicry because the body sees proteins as the enemy (or antigen) and starts to attack them.  (These proteins often lodge in the joint capsule, causing rheumatoid arthritis.)  E stands for enzymes which break down particles.  When there is a shortage of enzymes, large particles get into the blood and become antigens causing an immune response from the body.(3)

Thank you, Shelli for sharing your experiences with others.  Your story is inspiring, and I hope others will follow suit!

(1) Baltazar, Amanda.   “Can Vegan or Vegetarian Diets Help Reduce Arthritis Inflammation?  Small studies show some benefits and potential pitfalls.”  Arthritis Foundation.  May 2015. Web.  Accessed 13 January 2015.  <http://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/arthritis-diet/anti-inflammatory/vegan-and-vegetarian-diets.php>.

(2) Greger, Michael.  “Why Do Plant-Based Diets Help Rheumatoid Arthritis?.”  Online video clip.  Youtube.  Youtube, 13 May 2015.  Web.  13 January 2016. <http://nutritionfacts.org/video/why-do-plant-based-diets-help-rheumatoid-arthritis/>

(3)Paddison, Clint.  “Clint Paddison at TEDxBondUniversity.”  Online video clip.  Youtube.  Youtube, 2 october 2014.  Web.  Accessed 1 February 2016.  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G96U17hA-FI>.