Arthritis Intolerances and Allergies
Chronic joint pain of arthritis maybe due to or triggered by allergies or intolerances. The pain and inflammation can be a direct consequence of a health problem or a symptom of another condition. Allergies can be misunderstood or confused with intolerances. Anyone can suffer chronic joint pain and inflammation but generally rarer in children, people can be young but are more likely to be middle aged or elderly adults. Arthritis in its many forms is the main cause of chronic joint pain and inflammation. It cannot be ignored just hoping the condition will simply improve on its own. There is much that can be done to protect yourself from further degeneration.
As you have probably read there are a whole host of treatments that can be prescribed for the relief of chronic joint pain, and they include not only traditional medication but herbal and mineral supplements as well as stress management techniques, special physical therapy, massage, suitable exercise and diet. For extreme conditions there are numerous types of braces and supports that are meant to reduce osteo-skeletal pressure and thus relieve chronic joint pain.
Read MoreYour liver, help it help you reduce pain.
Our liver is underrated, over worked and taken for granted. Yet this organ serves several very important functions, not least detoxification. However, there’s a limit to what the liver can take on a daily basis year after year. Especially these days of ever increasing demands from foods and drinks that contains unnatural substances in ever increasing quantities. This continual bombardment eventually causes the organ to struggle. A struggling liver can contribute to all sorts of conditions like arthritis and over the longer period you might end up with conditions like cirrhosis or hepatitis to varying degrees.
Give your liver a break, take the load off by reducing the amount of artificial substances that give your liver an extra work load, as these substances are difficult to break down and take up extra resources.
Important elements to consider -
Read MoreCoffee linked to arthritis
From the BBC News
Drinking coffee may increase the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, according to doctors.
Research carried out in Finland suggests the number of cups of coffee drunk daily is linked to increased risk of developing the condition.
Doctors at the National Institute of Public Health in Helsinki examined their theory among a cross sectional survey of almost 7,000 people.
One in 100 affected
They found the number of cups of coffee consumed on a daily basis was strongly associated with rheumatoid factor.
Rheumatoid factor can contribute to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, which affects approximately one per cent of the population.
It can lead to permanent disability, and can even, in extreme cases, affect the major organs, causing life-threatening damage.
The research team also monitored a group of almost 19,000 over a 15 year period, none of whom had any evidence of arthritis when first tested.
They found people who drank four or more cups of coffee a day were twice as likely to test positive for arthritis than those who drank less.
The results held true even after adjusting for other risk factors, such as age, gender, smoking and weight.
They also report that those who drank 11 or more cups a day were almost 15 times as likely to have rheumatoid factor as non-coffee drinkers.
t they are unable to identify the ingredient in coffee, and in coffee that is not filtered in particular, that may increase the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
They called for further research to be carried out to see if their theory stands up.
Possible risk
“Coffee consumption should be considered a possible risk factor or a confounder in future reasearch intot he cause of rheumatoid arthritis,” they state.
The findings are published in the latest issue of the medical journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
But a spokeswoman from the Arthritis Research Campaign said: “When you consider that rheumatoid arthritis is a complex disease with a large genetic element, and that environmental and genetic factors interact to play a part in its development, to link the disease with coffee consumption is rather simplistic.”
A spokesman from the Coffee News Information Service, which represents the coffee industry, said the study had shown an association but not a cause and effect relationship.
“Most importantly when the data was collected 20 years ago, very strong boiled coffee was heavily consumed in Scandinavia, and does not represent normal UK consumption, which is primarily of the instant variety.
“Coffee drinkers should rest assured that coffee consumption in moderation is perfectly safe.”
Read MoreSupport orgainic if you can – help your Arthritis
By supporting the organic movement, we help to minimize chemical damage which poses a real threat to the future of humanity. We need to think hard before choosing an intensively produced product over an organic product simply because of the small extra cost.
Organic food is free from insecticides, pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, fertilisers and a whole host of other toxic artificial additives, flavourings, colourings and preservatives. The combination of these residues may be more toxic than you realize due to the synergistic effects of multiple residues on foods that can accumulate in human tissue. The health effect of all of this pollution is slowly becoming clear.
Agro-chemicals were not developed with nutrition, health or the environment in mind.So what we get is a cheap but inferior product with a cocktail of up to 40 different chemicals, waxes and insecticides.
Organic farmers are committed to fine food, and they will have left the trees in a meadow with healthy soil, filled with a diversity of butterflies, lady birds, birds and wildlife in general.
There are many hidden costs to intensive farming and spraying especially to the workers that have to handle the chemicals often without safety clothing, suffering all sorts of diseases.
Organic produce may well cost a bit more but this is no comparison to the possible cost if we don’t try to support organic foods. There is the cost to the tax payer for the subsidies to agro-chemical farming. The cost of cleaning up the environment as the chemicals end up in our water-ways killing fish and then there is the possible cost of healthcare as an indirect and direct result of the cocktail of chemicals. Then there is the cost to the wildlife, whose natural habitats are being systematically destroyed.
“The UK pesticide market is currently worth about £500 million every year. It is extraordinary that the cost of removing pesticides from drinking water amounts to a huge £120 million annually,” says Professor Pretty. In Britain subsidies on normally grown food works out at about 40 pence in every pound spent on food. This cost is paid through the taxation system.
Organic farmers earn lower subsidies because they grow rotation crops so they are unable to maximise subsidy income. They cost society about 25 pence in every pound. When you cost in the real cost of industrial agriculture and take away the subsidies that favour the wrong use of resources, you end up with a situation where, organic food would actually cost less than conventional! The situation is also very much like this in the USA.
More and more people are going organic and prices for organic foods have been falling over the last five years as more and more organic food is bought. It is vital that we safeguard the future of organic farming by paying a little bit extra to keep organic farmers in business.
Organic farming is generally smaller scale and more labour intensive, sometimes with smaller crop yields. Farmers also have to convert their land to organic production over a period of years, and as organic farming relies on crop rotation, up to 25% of land may be left to lie fallow at any one time to increase natural soil fertility.
Organic food’s strength lies in what it doesn’t contain. There is, in fact, only food in organic food as regulations prohibit hydrogenated fat that can cause of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity, aspartame thought to be a neurotoxin – affecting the nervous system, phosphoric acid found in many soda drinks causing osteoporosis, antibiotics which interfere with our immune system, hormones that are causing feminization of wild life, low sperm count, obesity, various cancers, pesticides causing or encouraging mutagenic, carcinogenic effects,GM foods – who knows what the long term effects will be, linked to IBS, Crohn’s disease, autism, other gut-based disease, or any of the 7000 artificial colourings, flavourings, preservatives and processing aids that are permitted in conventional food that have been linked to cancer, liver disease, gut problems. These are chemicals, food additives and processes that are not allowed in organic foods.
Also look out for wild crafted, hydroponic, bio-dynamic and eco-friendly grown foods.
Osteoporosis, what you need to know?
20th October is International Osteoporosis Day
Mention the word osteoporosis and the first thing you think of is calcium supplements, dairy products and menopausal women. Both men and women get osteoporosis and not always when they reach old age. Our bone density peaks at the age of 35ish. So we need to think about our bone density before our 50s. We recently saw a guy of 35 who had painful osteoporosis.
In Asian countries especially in China the incidence of osteoporosis is much more unusual. Things are changing though as more people in China start adopting a more Western style diet. The highest consumption of dairy products and calcium supplements is in the US yet they have one of the highest incidences of osteoporosis! This disease costs the US in excess of 11 billion dollars a year. Over the last 30 to 50 years the incidence of osteoporosis has increased dramatically.
Just for a moment think about the cows that produce the gallons of calcium rich milk for dairy products. However, when was the last time you saw them pop down the shops for a calcium tablet? Or indeed buying a pint of milk to supplement their diet? ePreventing osteoporosis is not just a simple matter – of getting cow’s milk or taking some cheap calcium carbonate tablets. Absorbing and utilizing calcium in these forms is extremely difficult, especially as we age.
There are many foods that contain calcium in a form that that is easier to digest, breakdown and absorb correctly. Foods like almonds, sesame seeds (tahini), green vegetables especially the darker ones, natural plain yogurts (much easier to digest that milk), the grain millet and many more. These foods are nutritious and contain the other nutrients needed for utilization of calcium.
In order to prevent or treat osteoporosis there are several dietary strategies that need to be taken into consideration. The body uses calcium reserves from the bones to neutralize an acidic environment that has been encouraged by the average Western type diet. So the more acid forming foods you eat the more the body uses calcium from the bones as a buffer this acidity. The foods and drinks that can cause acidity are alcohol, meat, sugar, wheat, rye, tea, coffee, soda, or artificial sweeteners. There are also compounds in certain foods and drinks that hinder the absorption of minerals like calcium and other minerals that calcium relies on for absorption. Compounds found in wheat, coffee, and tea.
I am not suggesting for a minute you need to give up your glass of wine or become a vegetarian. However, you do need to cut down on the amount of acid forming foods and drinks in favour of more alkaline forming foods and drinks like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains; quinoa, millet and brown rice to maintain a better balance. These foods are also rich in calcium and the co-nutrients. Maintaining a better alkaline acid balance will cut down the need for the body to use your calcium reserves from your bones.
As for supplements you will need to avoid calcium carbonate buy other forms of calcium, read the label carefully it will tell you what type of calcium it is. Also check the label to see how much magnesium if any and vitamin D your calcium tablets contain, start taking magnesium supplements 400mg with your calcium supplement.
If you take antacids, this can have a detrimental effect on calcium breakdown and absorption as antacids generally lower acidity levels or prevent so much from being produced. Either way this has a knock-on effect. Getting regular exercise is important. Get out in the open as much as possible, if only for short periods of time to get UV rays, this will help the body to manufacture vitamin D. Here I am not necessarily suggesting you sunbathe, I mean maybe a 30 minute walk.
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