Jenny Smiechowski
Rheumatoid arthritis isn’t your run-of-the-mill arthritis…
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition that can strike at any age.
It happens when your immune system goes haywire and attacks your body, more specifically your joints. People with rheumatoid arthritis experience joint stiffness, swelling and pain. But they also experience a range of other symptoms like fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches and lumps under the skin near the affected joints.
Like most autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis is serious and usually gets worse over time. It can even lead to severe disability in cases where joints become so swollen and disfigured that you’re unable to use them.
But diet can help improve rheumatoid arthritis symptoms immensely. In fact, there’s one particular food that protects your joints best from this devastating disease…
Fishing for rheumatoid arthritis help
Ask anyone who has rheumatoid arthritis whether they’d eat a certain food a few times per week to drastically reduce their RA symptoms, and you’ll get a resounding, “Yes!” That’s why there’s something rheumatoid arthritis sufferers everywhere need to know…
That question is more than just hypothetical. There’s actually a food that can do just that… fish.
In fact, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that RA sufferers who ate more fish had less joint problems. More specifically, two or more servings of fish per week reduced the amount and severity of tender and swollen joints, along with other RA symptoms.
Even more exciting, symptoms improved more with each additional serving of fish per week. So the more fish you eat, the less RA symptoms you have… at least according to this study.
“Fish consumption has been noted to have many beneficial health effects, and our findings may give patients with rheumatoid arthritis a strong reason to increase fish consumption,” said Dr. Sara Tedeschi, lead author of the study.
So if you’re struggling to get your RA under control, this could be the RA relief you’ve been praying for. In fact, researchers say eating fish just twice per week is about one-third as effective as the drugs used to treat the disease.
Finding relief from fish
If you’re ready to see how fish affects your RA symptoms, start turning to seafood for your protein at least two times per week.
But steer clear of fish that contains a lot of mercury like Bluefin tuna, farmed Atlantic salmon, mahi-mahi and halibut. Eating these fish too often might counteract the health benefits. Some of the healthiest fish you can put on your plate include:
- Wild-caught Alaskan salmon
- Wild-caught Pacific sardines
- Farmed rainbow trout
- Arctic char
- Atlantic mackerel
If you’re not a fan of fish, you could also turn to supplements for similar benefits. Krill oil is arguably the healthiest fish oil supplement you can take because it’s high in omega-3s, contains a powerful antioxidant called astaxanthin and is low in pollutants.
But nothing’s quite as good as the real thing, so do your best to add more fresh fish to your diet if you can. For more tips on choosing the healthiest seafood, check out the Environmental Working Group’s Consumer Guide to Seafood.
Editor’s note: If you suffer from chronic pain and conventional medicine has let you down, or you just want to escape the potential dangers of OTC and prescription drugs even for occasional pain, you must read Conquering the Pain: An Alternative Doctor’s Fresh Look at the Newest and Oldest in Alternative Pain Therapies. Click here to get your copy today!
Sources:
“Top 3 Types of Arthritis.” — WebMD. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
“Eating fish may reduce arthritis symptoms.” — MedicalXpress. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
K. Tedeschi, et al. “The relationship between fish consumption and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis.” — Arthritis Care & Research, 2017.
“Fish as Medicine for Rheumatoid Arthritis.” — New York Times. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
“Fish and Shellfish: 5 to Eat, 5 to Avoid.” — Eating Well. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
“10 Healthiest Fish On The Planet.” — Rodale’s Organic Life. Retrieved June 23, 2016.
