Fish, good fats and mercury or rheumatoid arthritis

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Further to the fish for the inflammatory (which CR alleviates)

disease, rheumatoid arthritis, is the below suggesting the same

benefits in a randomized control trial.

Rheumatol Int. 2003 Jan;23(1):27-36. Epub 2002 Sep 06.

Anti-inflammatory effects of a low arachidonic acid diet and fish

oil in

patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Adam O, Beringer C, Kless T, Lemmen C, Adam A, Wiseman M, Adam P,

Klimmek R,

Forth W.

... Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) improve on a

vegetarian diet

or supplementation with fish oil. ...

METHODS: Sixty-eight patients with definitive RA were matched into two

groups of

34 subjects each. One group was observed for 8 months on a normal

western

diet

(WD) and the other on an anti-inflammatory diet (AID) providing an

arachidonic

acid intake of less than 90 mg/day. Patients in both groups were

allocated

to

receive placebo or fish oil capsules (30 mg/kg body weight) for 3

months in

a

double-blind crossover study with a 2-month washout period between

treatments.

.... RESULTS: Sixty patients completed

the study. In AID patients, but not in WD patients, the numbers of

tender

and

swollen joints decreased by 14% during placebo treatment. In AID

patients,

as

compared to WD patients, fish oil led to a significant reduction in

the

numbers

of tender (28% vs 11%) and swollen (34% vs 22%) joints (P<0.01).

Compared to

baseline levels, higher enrichment of eicosapentaenoic acid in

erythrocyte

lipids (244% vs 217%) and lower formation of leukotriene B(4) (34% vs

8%,

P>0.01), 11-dehydro-thromboxane B(2) (15% vs 10%, P<0.05), and

prostaglandin

metabolites (21% vs 16%, P<0.003) were found in AID patients,

especially

when

fish oil was given during months 6-8 of the experiment. CONCLUSION: A

diet

low

in arachidonic acid ameliorates clinical signs of inflammation in

patients

with

RA and augments the beneficial effect of fish oil supplementation.

Controlled Clinical Trial

PMID: 12548439

Cheers, Al Pater