One side effect that we are all supposed to expect from aging is bad joints. The thinking is, your joints have been supporting your body for your entire life. As you get older, it only makes sense that these joints would start to wear down and may need to be replaced. It happens in cars and other machines, so why wouldn’t it happen in people?

Arthritis is a health problem made up of many different conditions that all have one thing in common: inflamed joints. While arthritis can take on a number of forms in the body, like osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis, there are more than 100 kinds of arthritis that cause severe joint pain.

Each arthritic condition may have its own medical cause to blame, but we now know that these conditions are inflammatory. Though osteoarthritis

is considered a non-inflammatory degenerative joint disease in the medical community, it still has an inflammatory trigger that can be traced back to diet, like any other lifestyle disease. Arthritis is caused by chronic inflammation in the body that can lead to chronic joint pain.

HOW CHRONIC INFLAMMATION DESTROYS HEALTHY JOINTS

Arthritis is a rheumatic disease – a type of disease that affects joints and muscles. The American College of Rheumatology tells us that there are an estimated 52.5 million adults suffering from arthritis, or 23 per cent, in the U.S. alone.1 And still, millions of adults suffer from other inflammatory, rheumatic conditions that affect their quality of life – including the 5 million people with fibromyalgia, the 8 million people with gout, and the 59 million people with lower back pain in the U.S.

Arthritis remains the top cause of disability in Western countries because so many of us don’t know what to do about it.

Roughly 10 per cent of the global population over the age of 60 is already showing signs of the most common arthritic disorder, osteoarthritis. This is why we believe that joints wear down with age. When we hear of another older person being diagnosed with osteoarthritis, or when we experience it in our body, we may sigh and accept our fate, saying, “It’s about time my body started to give out.”

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Osteoarthritis, for example, is a rheumatic joint disease that affects the cartilage needed to cushion the joint. Osteoarthritis results when the protective cartilage layer starts to erode, and bones rub together.

This rubbing causes immediate pain, swelling, and immobility at the site. Joints may become malformed, and bone spurs can grow as bones rub together. These joints break down not because of old age but because of chronic inflammation that has been left to destroy the body over a long period of time, caused by nutrient deficiency and an inflammatory diet.

The book Improving Arthritis in 30 Days explains, “Most of us lack the essential nutrients in our diet needed for good health, triggering inflammation. This absence of nutrients combined with one or several other unhealthy lifestyle factors can perpetuate arthritis.”

These inflammatory foods that break down healthy joints are some of our favorites in the Western diet. Most of us have been eating sugary, starchy foods like  pastas, cereals, white rice, potatoes, breads, pastries, and cookies for years. Since these foods are processed and devoid of nutrients, lacking essential phytochemicals and antioxidants needed to neutralize free radical damage, inflammation continues. Joints break down. Arthritis can occur if this inflammatory cascade is not stopped.

ONE CHANGE PROTECTS JOINTS FROM DEGENERATIVE DISEASE

If you could do one thing differently to save your joints, would you do it? The answer is simple, but it is not so easy. The food that you put in your body – especially when you have one or more degenerative diseases – directly impacts joint health.

Remember, joint deterioration isn’t caused by normal wear and tear. It’s caused by chronic inflammation.

Diet is the one factor you can change that impacts dangerous levels of inflammation in your body. University of East Anglia researchers discovered that your mother may have been right all along – eating your greens could protect against arthritis. In the laboratory, scientists isolated a compound in broccoli called sulforaphane that may block joint-destroying enzymes to slow or prevent the development of osteoarthritis.2

On the other side of the plate, British researchers found that eating high levels of red meat may be an independent risk factor for inflammatory arthritis, a common early sign of rheumatoid arthritis.3 Complementary research suggests that a gluten-free vegan diet may help to lower cholesterol and increase natural antibodies that fight against symptoms of chronic inflammatory disease, like rheumatoid arthritis. This type of diet can also reduce risk of heart attack and stroke in someone with rheumatoid arthritis, a condition that increases risk for cardiovascular disease.4

This research paints a very clear picture. Cutting processed, inflammatory foods out of the diet can protect joints from inflammation that causes them to break down. If you already have arthritis, eating an anti-inflammatory diet (rich in vegetables, dark-skinned fruits, healthy oils, grass-fed meats and fish, and healthy carbohydrate alternatives like quinoa and legume pasta) can show immediate effects to relieve joint pain or reverse the condition, in some cases.

Part of changing your diet to support arthritis relief includes giving your joints the nutrients they need to repair and heal. The powerful proteolytic enzyme Serrapeptase is a known anti-inflammatory and chronic pain buffer.5 When taken with other super-nutrients like curcumin, vitamin D3, and Ecklonia Cava extract, Serrapeptase can calm whole-body inflammation, reduce signs of aging, and support joint health. Nourishing krill oil works alongside Serrapeptase to reduce high levels of inflammation in the body and improve joint mobility; the National Institutes of Health confirms that omega-3 fatty acids, abundant in krill oil, can ease joint tenderness and reduce the need for corticosteroid drugs in cases of rheumatoid arthritis.6 Joints that have already been crippled by arthritis are not a lost cause – anti-inflammatory nutrients can help heal, and at-home acupressure can be used to locate pain points and ease pain and swelling at the site.7

You don’t have to sit idly by and watch your joints get worse with age. There are plenty of tools available to offer arthritis pain relief and even support recovery. If you make one change today, change the way you eat: If you are feeding your body inflammation, you are feeding arthritis. The only way to protect joints from devastating levels of inflammation is to stop eating the foods that cause it in the first place.

Sources
1. “Overall Prevalence of Arthritis and Rheumatic Diseases.” American College of Rheumatology.
2. University of East Anglia. “Eating broccoli could guard against arthritis.” ScienceDaily.
3. “Dietary Risk Factors for the Development of Inflammatory Polyarthritis: Evidence for a Role of
High Level of Red Meat Consumption,” Dorothy J. Pattison, Deborah P.M. Symmons, Mark Lunt, Ailsa Welch, Robert Luben, Sheila A. Bingham, Kay-Tee Khaw, Nicholas E. Day, and Alan J. Silman, Arthritis & Rheumatism, December 2004; 50:12; pp. 3804-3812.
4. “Gluten-free Vegan Diet May Protect Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients From Heart Attack, Stroke, Study Suggests.” BioMed Central/Arthritis Research.
5. Yamazaki, J. et al. Anti-inflammatory activity of TSP, a protease produced by a strain of Serratia. Folia Pharmacol. Japon. 6^302-314,1967.
6. “Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Health.” National Institute of Health Office of Dietary Supplements.
7. “Acupuncture Gets Respect.” Arthritis Foundation.