Arthritis diet: Drinks to avoid or risk triggering painful joint symptoms
Five warning signs of rheumatoid arthritis
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Research published by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine highlighted the link between rheumatoid arthritis and diet, including drinks. Which beverages are you better off avoiding? Anecdotal evidence suggests that removing dairy from the diet could ease painful joint symptoms within a few weeks. This suggests that milk – no matter if it is skimmed or whole cow’s milk, or goat’s milk – could trigger joint tenderness, pain and swelling.
“Research shows that dairy protein may exacerbate symptoms,” the analysis read.
On the research paper, dairy was labelled as a “major arthritis trigger”.
Another beverage given this description was coffee; this is because – in a survey of 1,000 arthritis patients – caffeine was reported to worsen symptoms.
This means that both coffee and tea could trigger painful arthritis symptoms.
Soda also contains caffeine, as do energy drinks, which could increase an inflammatory response in the body.
It could take “at least four weeks for chronically inflamed joined to begin cooling down” after removing such beverages from your diet.
Utilising a diet diary, you can keep track of which drinks specifically trigger symptoms for you.
After four weeks of eliminating such drinks from your diet, you can slowly introduce a beverage – one at a time – to see if any of them trigger symptoms.
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As soon as you notice that symptoms have flared-up again, remove the most recently introduced beverage to see if symptoms then subside.
The researchers at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recommend waiting “at least two weeks” before reintroducing another drink.
Drinks you may be better off avoiding:
- Milk
- Tea
- Coffee
- Soda
- Energy drinks.
Medical News Today pointed out the tell-tale signs of a rheumatoid arthritis flare.
Typical symptoms of a rheumatoid arthritis flare-up can include:
- An increase in joint pain
- Fatigue
- Swelling
- Stiffness
- Tender joints
- Inflammation
- Low mood
- A general feeling of being unwell
- Night sweats or fever
- Weight loss.
A flare-up can last anywhere between a few hours to several days or weeks.
Just before a flare, it’s commonplace to experience fatigue and the sense that something is “not quite right”.
During an episode, symptoms tend to increase until it reaches its crescendo, and then symptoms lessen from that point forward.
When a flare-up occurs in response to a trigger, it’s known as a predictable flare.
Other triggers, aside from certain beverages, can include:
- Emotional or physical stress
- Infection
- Physical trauma
- Fatigue
- Seasonal changes
- Smoking
- Spending a long time standing or without moving.
If you’re able to suss out which triggers affect you, you’ll be better at preventing predictive flares.
Medications may also be helpful in managing painful symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.
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