Dietary beliefs of patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Which food items do they think worsen their disease?

Abstract

Introduction
Dietary factors have been linked to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and efforts have been made to mitigate its inflammatory burden through dietary manipulations.

Methods
The cross-sectional, descriptive study conducted at a tertiary care referral hospital in Bengaluru, India, evaluated the dietary habits of participants using a structured questionnaire administered by a nutritionist in the outpatient department.

Results
The study included 100 patients (91 women) with a mean age of 46.95 (± 10.65) years and a mean illness duration of 60 (±71.41) months. The BMI categories showed 16 individuals classified as overweight, and 40 in the type 1 obese category. Forty-four patients believed that articular symptoms were influenced by their diet. Among the perceived trigger foods, roots and tubers were reported by 25 patients, while legumes, poultry, and egg products were mentioned by a smaller number of patients. Almost half of the selected patients had self-experimented with their diet to reduce articular symptoms, primarily with food items such as potatoes, tubers, poultry, and eggs.

Conclusion
Patients with RA frequently self-experiment with diet modification, specifically targeting tubers and poultry in an attempt to reduce articular symptoms. Taking cue from this, structured diet elimination could be considered in the future.