Rheumatoid arthritis affects mainly younger individuals and is three times more common in females than in males. It can persist into old age, progressively becoming more disabling. Early symptoms include redness, swelling and soreness of joints. Often joints are affected symmetrically, that is both wrists or knees are involved. Pain and stiffness may also travel to other joints and affect the whole body. In later life lumps and nodules may appear at the joints and lead to deformities.

Rheumatoid arthritis in particular is closely linked to food allergy. Most sufferers greatly improve when they are on a fast or restricted diet which eliminates the foods to which they are allergic. Cows' milk products and wheat products are the most common offenders, but there is usually a whole range of foods to which individuals react with a worsening of symptoms.

When aspirin and other commonly used pain relieving drugs are taken, the intestinal wall becomes less effective in blocking harmful partly digested nutrients and frequently a worsening of symptoms occurs in the longer term. The same happens if fruit acids are ingested or sweet food is eaten. The inefficient metabolism of these individuals converts sweet food only partly into energy, the rest forms lactic acid. Acids liberate histamine which in turn causes swellings and strong inflammatory reactions. Therefore, inflammatory conditions deteriorate if fruit acids or acid-forming foods are ingested, while alkaline-forming foods, generally vegetables and those rich in minerals, are beneficial.

Another group of foods to increase allergic inflammations and pain sensitivity are the polyunsaturated oils. These are converted to arachidonic acid (also present in meat) and further into a group of tissue hormones, called prostaglandins, which are pro-inflammatory. Also inorganic iron in supplements and water (brown residues) can trigger inflammations.

The opposite effect, reducing pain sensitivity and inflammation, has another group of oils containing so-called Omega-3 fatty acids. These are mainly present in linseed and fish oils and form prostaglandins which are anti-inflammatory.

While food incompatibility is a frequent trigger of rheumatoid arthritis, there may also be allergies to inhaled substances, such as gas from a gas stove or heater, car exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke, solvent fumes, perfumes, moth balls or any strongly or persistently smelling substance at home or work. Even toothpaste, make-up, detergents in dish water, synthetic clothing, especially nylon or any environmental, agricultural or food chemicals may contribute to this condition.

All of the factors causing or influencing rheumatoid arthritis can also contribute to the development of osteoarthritis. As the onset later in life shows, there must be another negative factor which develops over time. As we will see, it is not age itself which is the real problem, but the declining health of most people with advancing age and that is an important difference.

Joints need to be well nourished to maintain a healthy structure. Vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are required in sufficiently high concentrations to maintain and regenerate the cartilage linings of the joints and the synovial membranes and fluids surrounding them. Most individuals living on a 'normal' mixed diet are more or less deficient in one or more of these essential nutrients and this will lead over time to a gradual deterioration of joints, especially those which are heavily used but do not receive an adequate supply of nutrients. Commonly affected are the weight-bearing joints in overweight individuals and also joints with old injuries

There are various experimental studies which show the extent of the allergy problems, especially in the causation of rheumatoid arthritis. In one report all 45 patients significantly improved in all seven objective and subjective disease parameters while on a 7 day water fast. A similar result was reported by another author in a study with 25 patients. Subsequent challenges with implicated foods provoked intense reactions with severe deterioration.

Reactions occur mainly against foods which are overused in a society. While in Australia these are mainly wheat, cows' milk products and meat, in the United States there is also a high incidence of allergy to corn and soya products. However, the deciding factor is the individual food preference of the affected person. Foods to which we are addicted and like to eat every day are usually the worst offenders.

Another report concerns 6 patients with rheumatoid arthritis who all had remissions of joint symptoms when they went on a low-calorie fat-free diet. When, after 7 weeks, either animal fat or vegetable oil was reintroduced they all experienced return of their symptoms within 72 hours. Chicken, cheese, safflower oil, beef or coconut oil all caused inflammatory deteriorations in their joints.

Foods of the nightshade family frequently have a negative effect on arthritis. These include potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and capsicum. In a study with 5000 arthritics who avoided nightshades over 70% reported a gradual improvement over the 7 years of the experiment.

Nightshade foods contain the alkaloid solanine which is highest in greened potatoes but also to some degree in green tomatoes and green capsicum. It may be assumed that it is mainly the occasional ingestion of green parts of nightshades which cause the arthritic problems. This may include green capsicum and the green inner parts of some commercial tomatoes. Also damaged potatoes are higher in solanine.

Arthritics frequently do not have sufficient gastric acid for the proper digestion of proteins. This causes deficiencies in proteins, minerals and vitamin B12 as well as an over-sensitivity to bacteria in food and water. Of a group of 35 arthritics 28.6% did not have any gastric acid (achlorhydria) while another 17% had only very low gastric acid levels (hypochlorhydria).

Supplementing meals with hydrochloric acid to assist in the digestion does not adversely affect joint inflammations. Such inflammations are aggravated by insufficiently metabolised fruit acids, such as citric acid, but also vinegar. However, with advancing age inflammatory processes decrease to be replaced by increasing calcifications and stiffness. In this situation it is actually beneficial to supply plenty of fruit acids and cider vinegar.

This difference in the reaction to fruit acids results from age-related changes in the metabolism. Initially the ingestion of sweet foods causes overacidity in the tissues through accumulation of lactic acid and metabolic fruit acids from the citric acid cycle. This causes joint erosion by leaching calcium from the bones. With advancing age, on the other hand, the metabolism slows down. Sugars may then cause diabetes or be converted to fat and cause overweight. Now a deficiency of metabolic acids develops. The tissues and fluids around the joints become too alkaline, inflammations fade out, instead calcium starts to deposit around the joints, forming spurs and causing joints to grow together (ankylosis).

A major contributing factor, especially with rheumatoid arthritis, is an overgrowth of the intestines with undesirable bacteria and fungi. The main cause for this is usually antibiotic treatment, sometimes also the meat from animals reared with routine antibiotic feeding as well as other drugs. The problem is aggravated by low gastric acidity as well as a diet high in sweet foods.

Frequently the intestinal walls are damaged by a high gluten intake as well as by allergenic inflammations and this allows bacterial decomposition products to enter the bloodstream and weaken the immune system as well as aggravate the joint inflammations. Another contributing factor in this process is the use of aspirin and other analgesics that make the intestinal walls more porous.

This invasion of bacterial allergens combined with food allergens not only produces joint inflammations, but also a phenomenon called 'sludged blood': the red blood cells begin to aggregate and clump together.

In this condition they cannot be sufficiently charged with oxygen and in addition they clog the blood capillaries in the muscles, leading to oxygen starvation, lack of nutrients and accumulation of metabolic waste products. This results in a generally sluggish blood circulation which is a major cause of the morning stiffness in arthritis.

The clumped blood cells and the resulting sluggish circulation could be directly observed in the capillaries of the conjunctiva of the eyes of arthritics. This same condition is responsible for a raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate or E.S.R. in the blood with inflammatory arthritis. A raised E.S.R. is usually indicative of a general infection or of inflammatory and widespread immune reactions in the body.

In addition to infections, inflammations and allergies, also a high fat intake induces temporary sludging of the blood. This is probably the reason for the improvement experienced on a low fat diet. Arthritics often have poor liver functions and a slow clearance of fat particles (chylomicrons) from the bloodstream. This makes blood cells more sticky, causing them to clump together and the resulting oxygen deficiency increases the pain in the affected area.

It has been shown that sludging of the blood occurs temporarily in an area which has been traumatised by a sudden impact injury such as a fall or a strong blow. This localised sludging may be the cause of the frequently resulting 'traumatic arthritis'.

Read Natural Cures for Arthritis

Read Arthritis and Back Pain (the water connection)