'I'm a pharmacist - you should stick to this diet to ease painful arthritis'
05.03.2024 - 11:07
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Millions of people across the UK are currently living with arthritis which causes pain, often on a daily basis.
Depending on the type of arthritis, people can also suffer with inflammation, joint stiffness as well as difficulty moving. This makes their day-to-day life more challenging.
Sadly there is no cure for arthritis. However, there are ways to reduce your risk of the condition and ease symptoms. One expert spoke to the Express about how to your diet can impact your symptoms - and there's one thing you can try to see if it will help you.
Pharmacist Mark Burdon from topical joint and muscle pain specialists, Deep Relief, says that diet has an impact on arthritic pain through an effect on inflammation. According to the expert, the best diet you can stick to to prevent inflammation is the Mediterranean diet.
He explained: “An anti-inflammatory diet reduces inflammatory markers in the blood and can reduce pain. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet has been shown to be linked with reduced inflammation through the same mechanism.
"A healthy anti-inflammatory diet also contributes to the ability to maintain a healthy weight. Too much fatty tissue especially around the stomach releases inflammatory mediators causing inflammation so it’s important to maintain weight in the healthy range.”
A Mediterranean diet is rich in healthy fats, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds. Not only does it consist of balanced and varied groups, but it is often - and consistently - cited by health bodies as the best diet for a range of conditions such as heart disease, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the expert says.
Mark explained: “Anti-inflammatory foods for arthritic and joint pain include colourful vegetable and