September 2, 2005 – Eating fruits and vegetables with yellow and orange pigments may help prevent the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. At least that’s what the results of a study indicate1 conducted by researchers at the University of Manchester in England.
Using data from a large nine-year epidemiological study of 25,000 subjects, the researchers studied the diets of 88 subjects with rheumatoid arthritis. They compared this diet to that of 176 subjects showing no signs of this inflammatory disease.
They found that sick subjects consumed 40% less beta-cryptoxanthin and 20% less zeaxanthin than healthy subjects. These two substances are antioxidants from the large family of carotenoids. They give fruits and vegetables a yellow or orange color. Overall, the results indicate that subjects who ate the most foods rich in beta-cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin had half the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis than those who ate the least.
Consuming a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice every day provides enough of these antioxidants to protect against disease, the researchers say.
Last year, the same team of scientists published the results of a study indicating that a diet high in fruit may help prevent rheumatoid arthritis2. Certain antioxidants contained in fruits and vegetables are said to have an anti-inflammatory action. In the long term, they could have the effect of protecting the joints against the degeneration associated with the inflammatory process, which is thought to be the cause of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
These results cannot constitute formal proof of the therapeutic efficacy of fruits and vegetables rich in yellow and orange pigments. But the researchers suggest that further studies be undertaken to verify if these pigments could not help to counter the progression of rheumatoid arthritis, and this, as soon as the first symptoms appear.
Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net
According to WebMed.com and Reuters.
1. Pattison DJ, Symmons DP, et al. Dietary beta-cryptoxanthin and inflammatory polyarthritis: results from a population-based prospective study.Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Aug; 82 (2): 451-5.
2. Pattison DJ, Silman AJ, et al. Vitamin C and the risk of developing inflammatory polyarthritis: prospective nested case-control study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2004 Jul; 63 (7): 843-7.
