Preventive Medicine and Nutrition

The Latest In: Arthritis

Vegan Diet Improves Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia
A diet change helps rheumatoid arthritis, according to Swedish researchers who enrolled 66 arthritis patients in a one-year study, assigning 38 to a gluten-free, vegan diet and 28 to a non-vegan diet. The special vegan diet was meant to eliminate the proteins from milk and grains that appear to cause an immune reaction. Forty percent of people in the vegan group improved compared to just one person in the control group.

Another study tested a mostly raw vegan diet in 30 patients with fibromyalgia, a syndrome of chronic fatigue, pain, poor sleep, depression, and anxiety. After several months on the diet, 19 participants showed significant improvement in range of motion, flexibility, and other measures.

Hafstrom B, Ringertz A, Spanberg L, et al. A vegan diet free of gluten improves the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis: the effects on arthritis correlate with a reduction in antibodies to food antigens. Rheumatology 2001;40:1175-9.
Donaldson M, Speight N, Loomis S. Fibromyalgia syndrome improved using a mostly raw vegetarian diet: an observational study. BMC Complement Altern Med 2001;1:7.

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