Eating lots of red meat may increase your chances of developing rheumatoid arthritis, say British researchers.
The new study is based on food diaries kept by about 260 people, a third of whom had inflammatory arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis, in at least two joints. Participants kept detailed food journals for seven days, weighing their food for accurate records
Researchers observed that a diet that lacks in fruit, especially those high in vitamin C, raises the risk of inflammatory arthritis, a general early sign of RA, as high as three-fold. Building on this undeniable finding, they set out to explore the association of other dietary habits with the onset of RA. Their results, published in the December 2004 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism indicate a high level of red meat consumption as an independent risk factor for inflammatory arthritis
Led by Professors Alan Silman and Deborah Symmons of the University of Manchester, the group selected its subjects from a large, established research sample–over 25,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 75 enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer in Norfolk, England. Among this population, 88 new patients with inflammatory arthritis, which affected at least two major joints, were identified.
Among the two groups- patients and controls, patients had a lower intake of vitamin C, although the association of this factor with disease risk was not as strong as it was in the team’s previous study. The most striking difference between the two groups was directly related to red meat consumption. After adjusting for smoking and other possible dietary confounders, patients with the highest level of red meat consumption had a two-fold risk for the development of RA. Patients who consumed high levels of red meat combined with other meat products showed similar high risk levels.
I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). For two years I was in a lot of pain in bot knees and hips. About 2 months ago for personal reasons I stopped eating red meat. After about three weeks ago I noticed that the extreme burning in my knees and hips had stopped. At that time I had also changed doctors because I was not happy with the physician who diagnosed me with RA. After three visits and multiple visits [blood word and X-rays] he determined that it was his opinion that I did NOT have RA. I am pleased to find that scientists have found a link between red meat and arthritis.