Arthritis Treatment And Food Intolerance Connection

A report from the UK Medical Research Council in 2001 stated there is evidence from both case reports and controlled trials that an individualised diet, where offending foods are identified, removed, and consequently cause an improvement in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Thus, sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis may be interested in knowing that there may be a connection between rheumatoid arthritis and food intolerances. Wheats and dairy foodstuffs in particular have a high chance of inducing arthritis.

In the 1940s, Charles de Coti-Marsh undertook what is considered to be pioneering research into the cause and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Since his studies made such an impact on him, he was confident that what we eat played a big part in the growth and development of chronic conditions, and that included arthritis.

Sticking to an elimination diet (weeding out all the culprit foods which may be causing the symptoms of arthritis) helps determine whether or not these symptoms improve or worsen. The re-introducing of foodstuffs one at a time also helps to identify which are causing the symptoms. In a 1986 study, Dr. Gail Darlington, consultant rheumatologist, published an example of the elimination diet at work on patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Darlington undertook a controlled study over a period of 6 weeks of dietary manipulation therapy involving 53 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Over the first week period, the patients were allowed only to consume foodstuffs they were unlikely to be intolerant to. Meanwhile, other foods were introduced one at a time to determine whether any of the symptoms were aroused by such dietary challenges. Food that produced symptoms were then rejected from the diet. The fact that there were significant improvements in the exclusion diet group in comparison to the placebo diet group meant that there was a connection between rheumatoid arthritis and diet. In 1993, Darlington completed and published further clinical trials, publishing a table of foods most likely to cause intolerance in patients with RA. Among the top five ranked wheat, corn, bacon/pork, oranges and milk.

De Coti-Marsh used what he called ‘Sanocell System’ to treat his patients. He first judged the quantity of toxic chemical compounds (known as food antigen) which he believed to exist within a particular food. Founded on observation and the case histories of the patients, De Coti-Marsh gave each food a respected value of 1-200, 200 being the most poisonous to the body. Following a a “Home Treatment Program”, his patients at each stage of progression were allowed to include in the diet any of the foods below a specified number and foods categorized with a higher number were consequently disallowed. This served as an elimination phase and as patients progressed, the Sanocell System allowed for the re-introduction of particular foods. An individualised diet, this system was supervised by de Coti-Marsh himself and is still used today, promoted by the Arthritic Association.

The Arthritic Association presents the Home Treatment Program of De Coti-Marsh for rheumatoid arthritis in the context of scientific literature these days, investigated and ratified by the medical profession as a whole. Intrinsically, the charity organization has a health program which has now been accepted as mostly a self-administered intervention based on three areas: diet, supplementation and physical therapy.

If you suffer from arthritis, an easy way to remove foods that might be causing you arm would be to use a food intolerance test, after being tested, you will get a report that states all the foods you are intolerant to ( remember, intolerance is not the same as allergy)… Chances are that after removing those food from your diet, you will feel much better.