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Friday, January 2, 2009

Arthritis and Food

Arthritis and Food

Traditional medicines, Particularly Siddha medicine attribute disease including arthritis due to food that turns toxic. More over Excessive body weight causes heavier load on the weight bearing knee joint and aggravates Osteoarthritis. It is well known that uric acid deposits in the minor joints leads to Gouty arthritis.

Effective management of arthritis therefore lies in avoiding the food that aggravates the disease and reducing body weight. There is an excessive Vatham with in turns affects Pitham. The obese patients normally have Kapham body constituent and are more prone for Osteoarthritis.

Detoxifying with gentle purgatives in patients with recent onset, and strong purgatives in chronic cases are the first line of management

Raisins with honey or Rose petals with honey, Cassia fistula flowers (Chandelier flowers) or its fruit pulp with honey, Herbal tea with Senna, Psyllium husk are the options for gentle purgation.

Avoidance of Red meat, Excessive use of dairy products, shortening, Saturated fat, sweets, Tamarind and tubers that grow beneath – Potatoes, Yam except wild yam and many plants of the potato family including brinjal (Egg plant), tomatoes (due to Oxalic acid presence) are also to be avoided.

Fruits and green vegetables like Ladies finger are fine. Skimmed milk and Plants containing phyto-oestrogen is good in women. Flax seed oil and fish oil containing Gamma Lionelic Acid are good.

Among spices and condiments Ginger and Garlic helps in arthritis. Parsley celery also helps in detoxifying.

Morniga leaves and Cardiospermum helcacabum (Balloon wine- Mudakarurthan) leaves as chutney is very helpful.

Chutney made of tender stems Cissus quadrangularis(Hadjora- Pirandai) or the stems processed with butter milk and sun dried can be made into powder and added to food particularly in osteoarthritis. Though Cissus also contains Oxalic acid, processing removes the unwanted oxalic acid.

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