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19 Mar 2008
Sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis could reduce their risk of heart attacks and strokes by adopting a gluten-free vegan diet, a study suggests.
Research carried out by Arthritis Research and Therapy found that people who followed a vegan regime, cutting out animal products and gluten, appeared to have lower levels of bad cholesterol linked to heart problems.
Heart attacks and strokes are some of the main causes of death for sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis as inflammation from the disease impacts upon the function of arteries.
A team at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm gave 38 volunteers a diet which included ten per cent protein, 60 per cent carbohydrate and 30 per cent fat including fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and corn.
A further 28 volunteers followed a healthy non-vegan diet.
The study found that participants in the latter group showed no significant reduction in bad cholesterols, or low-density lipoprotein (LDL), when compared to the vegan group.
"I think it is a quite unexpected and interesting finding," professor Johan Frostegard, who led the study said.
"The effects on the immune system are quite new."
Researchers hope that the study can prove how diet can be used to improve the long-term health of an estimated three million rheumatoid arthritis sufferers in Europe.
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