Food To Avoid With Arthritis:
Staying Out Of Trouble

An inflamed joint is a painful joint and so carefully avoiding those foods known to cause inflammation can help you lead a life with a lot less pain from arthritis.

There is a lot of ongoing research being conducted about the relationship of food and arthritis. The connection becomes clearer all the time on two levels.

There are some foods that can help bone building and there are some foods that prevent inflammation to ease the pain. But it works the other way too: some foods leach bone building material and/or cause inflammation leading to more pain.

One of the recommendations is to consider if you might have food allergies. Sometimes joint inflammation is not due to the arthritis but rather is an allergic reaction.

If you haven't had allergy testing to determine foods you might be allergic to then you can use the elimination process. Eliminate the likely candidates and then re-introduce them one by one watching for signs of inflammation or pain.

There are a number of specific foods that are known to fall into the category of food to avoid with arthritis, because they are known to cause inflammation in the joints and to cause weakening of the bones.

• Processed meats can cause allergic reactions and inflammation
• Soft drinks contain phosphorus can lead to calcium loss
• Organ meats (yeah…no liver!) are high in purines that cause inflammation
• Alcohol can leach bone calcium in the joints
• Foods with linoleic acid because linoleic acid contributes to inflammation
• Caffeine can leach bone calcium in the joints
• Gluten in bread and pastas increases arachidonic acid which is a precursor to inflammatory cytokines

The linoleic acid is found in cooking oil. The corn, safflower, and sunflower oils contain high amounts of linoleic acids.

Another food to avoid with arthritis is to avoid fried foods because many of them are fried using these oils. When cooking, you can use olive oil or canola oil instead. Linoleic acid is an omega-6 fatty acid.

The connection between arachidonic acid and arthritis inflammation hasn't been studied enough to definitively say the former causes the later.

However, research to date indicates there is a connection. If you're having problems with inflammation and pain in the joint, it's worth a try to eliminate gluten.

Once you have your list of food to avoid with arthritis for your particular case, you can then concentrate on the foods you can have and enjoy them.

Dietary restrictions suggest what people should not eat, but what should people eat? What foods will help control gout attacks? The American Medical Association recommends the following dietary guidelines for people with gout, advising them to eat a diet:

• high in complex carbohydrates (fiber-rich whole grains, fruits, and vegetables)
• low in protein (15% of calories and sources should be soy, lean meats, or poultry)
• no more than 30% of calories in fat (with only 10% animal fats)

Recommended Foods To EatFresh cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and other red-blue berries

Foods considered moderately high in purines but which may not raise the risk of gout include: asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms, peas, spinach, whole grain breads and cereals, chicken, duck, ham, turkey, kidney and lima beans. It is important to remember that purines are found in all protein foods. All sources of purines should not be eliminated.

You may think there's little you can eat at this point! That's not true. There are plenty of healthy fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, and limited amounts of meat and poultry.

But learn how to eat the right food, and the food to avoid with arthritis, and you will know you are doing all you can to avoid inflammation and arthritic pain.









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