Sore Joints and Food Allergies - Is Your Diet Making Your Joints Ache?

Might you have a food intolerance that makes your joints ache?
 
If you thought your joints felt achy after a meal, only to doubt yourself after hearing that no evidence links food allergies to rheumatoid arthritis, you're not alone. Until now science offered little evidence to support this connection.
 
Most studies have focused on antibodies (proteins that attack foreign substances) in the blood, but that focus may have been wrong. Food-related antibodies may not show up in the blood but in the gut of people with rheumatoid arthritis, and that's just where researchers at the University of Oslo, Norway, looked. They found that, in test tubes at least, the intestinal fluid of people with rheumatoid arthritis had higher levels of antibodies to proteins from milk, cereal, eggs, cod and pork than in people without rheumatoid arthritis.
 
Gut to Brain: Here Come the Allergies
Since your gut welcomes food first, the gut's immune system is the first to recognize potential substances that cause allergic reactions.  
 
Food allergies occur when your immune system mistakenly believes that something you ate is harmful. To protect you, the immune system produces immunoglobulin E  -  also called IgE antibodies -  against that food. The antibodies set off a chain reaction that causes symptoms. 
 
In some people, the antibodies and proteins bind together and form immune complexes in the intestine. These immune complexes then circulate and get into every nook and cranny of the body, including the joints, where they may contribute to inflammation.  Once antibodies are made against a particular food, the body instantly recognizes that food the next time it is consumed, and the cycle begins again.
 
Do Certain Foods Make Your Arthritis Worse?
If you think certain foods affect your arthritis, you could try eating the standard Stone Age Diet, which includes only fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, for one month, or follow the elimination diet, which is discussed in the book The Real Life Diet. Studies have shown that if a person is food-sensitive, this type of diet can help reduce morning stiffness and pain, improve range of motion and lower inflammatory mediators in the blood.
 
In a recent study British researchers noted that when on The Real Life Diet, more than one-third of participants with rheumatoid arthritis felt better and had less morning stiffness. A few study patients were able to return to walking and all other previous activities.
 
Investigate the Food Detective for Food Intolerance
Self-diagnosis by diet alone can be difficult, as food intolerances often have a delayed onset. This means that symptoms can arise hours, days or weeks after you've eaten a problem food.
 
An alternative way to check whether you have food intolerance is to use a new test called the Food Detective. A first in the world, the test can be done at home with a simple pinprick of blood, which will yield a result in 30-40 minutes.
The test results will show which food(s) you should eliminate from your diet to alleviate your symptoms. These foods include gluten, rice, cocoa beans, mushrooms, yeast, nuts, soya, shellfish, eggs and dairy products. More than 70% of testers who eliminated offending food groups from their diets experienced an improvement of their ailments.
 
If you're suffering with aches and pains or diagnosed arthritis, it might be worth it to eliminate the guesswork and get yourself properly tested. If you have food intolerance the symptoms can range from anxiety, constipation and diarrhoea to insomnia, migraines, arthritis, asthma and chronic fatigue syndrome.
 
The Food Detective is a useful tool and not very expensive, which makes it even more attractive as it takes much of the guesswork out of the process. Once you've identified the foods that may be causing the problem, it's ideal to omit those from your diet for a month, making sure you have plenty of alternatives to replace the missing nutrients. Within a month or two you should notice a significant difference to your symptoms, if it's diet-related.