Fructose linked to joint-destroying rheumatoid arthritis
If you or someone you love suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, you know it can be the worst kind of pain imaginable.
It can make even the most simple activities — like opening a jar or taking the dog for a walk — nearly impossible. And over time, it can leave your joints permanently disfigured.
But what if kicking one thing out of your diet could make the difference in whether you get RA — or not?
Some new research has discovered that a very common food additive may be a chief suspect in triggering the disease. It’s one that’s put in scores of everyday foods, even ones that look like healthy choices.
And the damage can start faster than you can say FRUCTOSE.
But it’s sure starting to look that way.
Diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, obesity — and now RA. All those conditions have been linked to added fructose — mainly in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
Sure, the corn refiners want you to believe that HFCS is Mother Nature’s gift to mankind. But as an eAlert reader you know that’s a big, fat, sticky lie. This stuff is straight from the laboratory — a man-made concoction that is making Americans fatter and sicker every single day.
And just when I thought that more bad news couldn’t come out about HFCS, along comes this study.
Researchers from two medical schools along with the University of Massachusetts found that women who drank HFCS-sweetened beverages just over five times a week were tripling their chances of developing RA.
Just think about that — we’re talking about less than one can of soda a day.
While the research focused on younger women, you can bet the damage is all the same no matter how old you are.
You see, when your gut has trouble absorbing fructose (a problem that gets worse with age), it sends your immune system into overdrive. That causes something researchers call “fructose reactivity” in your GI tract.
And the end result is lots and lots of inflammation — like the kind that can trigger RA and leave you with painful, swollen joints.
Last year a study found that this same immune response to fructose can also be a major cause of chronic bronchitis. And it didn’t seem to matter if the study subjects were smokers or not. Just drinking at least five HFCS-sweetened beverages was enough to almost double the chances of having frequent attacks of bronchitis!
So it’s obvious that now is the time to cut that added fructose out of your diet once and for all. And here’s how to do that:
- Check labels for HFCS, fructose, fruit sugar and crystalline fructose. Especially check processed foods, including some you’d never expect have fructose, like TV dinners.
- Don’t fall for the agave syrup myth. The stuff is practically 100 percent fructose.
- Remember that the fructose in fruit isn’t what’s bad for you. Mother Nature made sure that fruit comes packaged with fiber that slows the absorption of fructose as you digest it.
Sources:
“Intake of high-fructose corn syrup sweetened soft drinks, fruit drinks and apple juice is associated with prevalent arthritis in US adults, aged 20-30 years” Nutrition & Diabetes, March 7, 2016, nature.com
