Eating foods high in vitamin C appears to protect against inflammatory polyarthritis, a form of rheumatoid arthritis involving two or more joints. New research suggests that low intake of fruits, vegetables, and vitamin C raised the risk of inflammatory polyarthritis. For example, participants who consumed the lowest amounts of vitamin C were three times more likely to develop the condition than their peers who consumed the highest amounts. Although the findings contrast with a recent report linking high doses of vitamin C with worsening disease in guinea pigs with osteoarthritis, researchers said that these opposite findings may reflect the fact that rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are caused by different physiologic problems. With rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, the body attacks itself, however, osteoarthritis involves a degenerative process that worsens over time. If you know someone with rheumatoid arthritis or another form of the condition, please have him or her review my comprehensive program for treating RA for much more detailed information. You can also review my article on helpful tools to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Yahoo! News June 12, 2004