A major side effect of red meat on your joints, studies show

Did you know that joint pain can come from what you eat on a daily basis? The American diet is saturated with ultra-processed foods, all of which can produce an inflammatory effect on the body. Some of these foods include sugary packaged snacks and red meat, both of which could be the reason your joints hurt.

It is true that a diet largely devoid of processed foods can help prevent arthritis or chronic joint pain. Lots of recent research suggests that a primarily plant-based diet may help relieve symptoms of joint pain. For example, a 2015 study found that people with a diet high in plant-based whole foods experienced a significant decrease in their osteoarthritis pain after just two weeks. Participants also reported having more energy and better physical functioning at the end of the six-week study.

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What’s more, the results of a 2017 study indicate that fiber may also play a role in preventing arthritis. Those who switched to a high-fiber diet reduced their risk of knee osteoarthritis by up to 61%. And while there are several risk factors associated with arthritis, your gut health can be a key factor.

Foods high in fat and highly processed can alter your gut microbiota, which could be the cause of many health problems. In contrast, plant-based foods rich in both prebiotics and probiotics can help diversify healthy gut bacteria and reduce inflammation.

Now, new research from the Center for Individualized Medicine at the Mayo Clinic shows that your gut microbiome could predict whether or not you’ll develop rheumatoid arthritis.

The study, which was published in the journal Genome Medicine, discovered several traits in the gut microbiome that were linked to a future prognosis for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). For context, RA is a chronic inflammatory disorder that occurs when the immune system begins to attack its own tissues, including the joints. Some symptoms of RA include stiffness, pain, and swelling in more than one joint, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers suggest that examining people’s gut microbiome profiles could help them detect whether or not a person is at risk of being diagnosed later in life. If someone has certain biomarkers, the hope is that they can then be tasked with taking preventative measures immediately and saving themselves the burden of developing RA in the future.

“With further development, such prognostic biomarkers could identify patients who will achieve early clinical improvement with a given therapy, thus sparing them the expense and risk of other therapies less likely to be effective,” John M. Davis III , MD, co, ”said lead author of the study and clinical rheumatologist at the Mayo Clinic in a statement.

“Conversely, such tools can detect patients whose disease symptoms are less likely to improve, and perhaps allow clinicians to target and monitor them more closely. Much remains to be done, but we are well on the way to advancing our understanding of this issue. disease in order to individualize medicine for rheumatoid arthritis patients, ”he said.

In the meantime, it can’t hurt to incorporate more plant-based foods into your diet to support your gut microbiome and overall health. Be sure to check out The Best Diet to Reduce Inflammation, According to Dietitian for advice!