Specific Dietary Components in RMDs Moderately Beneficial

THURSDAY, June 2, 2022 (HealthDay News) — There is moderate evidence for a small benefit for some dietary components on rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), according to research published online May 31 in RMD Open.

James M. Gwinnutt, Ph.D., from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and colleagues reviewed the literature on the effect of diet on the progression of RMDs. Existing relevant systematic reviews and meta-analyses published from 2013 to 2018 were identified in the first phase. The review was expanded to include published original studies on diet in RMDs with no restriction on publication date in the second phase. A total of 24 systematic reviews were included in the first phase and 150 original articles were included in the second phase.

The researchers found that most studies addressed people with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, although many dietary exposures have been studied. Relatively few studies assessed most dietary exposures. Exposures assessed by multiple, well-conducted studies — for example, vitamin D, chondroitin, and glucosamine in osteoarthritis and omega-3 in rheumatoid arthritis — were classified as providing moderate evidence of small effects on disease progression.

“From the current evidence, there appears to be no single dietary factor which leads to meaningful improvements in RMD outcomes,” the authors write.

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