W2B-022 Health - Environment-1.txt
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS Jacqui Armstrong

Rheumatoid Artiritis affects between two and three per cent of the population, with three quarters of the sufferers female. It is a chronic, usually progressive, inflammatory disease of the joints. It usually attacks several joints and in some cases the onset is quite rapid and severe, but more often it develops over several months or even years.
The symptoms very

from person to person. These range from stiffness in the morning, painful and swollen joints, fatigues, to poor appetite and weight loss.
The inflammation is caused by a reaction between the white blood cells and various chemicals produced by the body. The white blood cells invade the joint and release certain enzymes which secrete chemicals that cause the breakdown of cartilage and bone.

Medical experts are not sure what causes this chain of events to occur. Some scientists believe rheumatoid arthritis is caused by a virus which causes infection in the arthritic joint. The virus triggers the inflammatory process, but so far it has not been possible to identify the virus responsible for this.

Other researchers believe it is a malfunction in the body's immune system. The immune system normally produces antibodies which destroy bacteria and viruses. In the case of rheumatoid arthritis is could be that these antibodies turn against healthy tissue in the body. This is called an "auto-immune response". But if there is no bacteria in the joint, why does the immune system "attack"?

One theory is that inflammation and destruction in the rheumatoid joint triggers the production of heat shock proteins or stress proteins. The stress proteins are found in all cells and are essential for survival. It is only when they are subjected to ultra violet light, chemicals, heat etc. that they are produced in large quantities to protect the cells. Some experts believe that the immune system may not be able to distinguish between bacterial or viral protein and one of the body's own proteins, because they both have a similar amino acid structure.

Other causes of rheumatoid arthritis may be connected to free radical activity. These are unstable chemicals that are made by the body and if they reach high levels they may cause many health problems, including the inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

Food intolerance may also be involved in this condition. This has not been proved conclusively, but we know that certain foods can make joint pains worse, possibly due to increased acid levels in the blood.

As we can see there are many complex theories as to how this condition is caused but is there anything that we can do to help the problem?

One of the things we need to look at is our diet. We have already discussed some of this in part one of this article. This should include plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables cooked and raw, salads, cottage cheese, brown rice, natural yoghurt and use honey as a sweetener.

Foods to avoid are red meat, pork, ham, white sugar, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, tomatoes, vinegar and too many dairy products. These foods contain a lot of acid which causes an imbalance in the blood which is predominantly alkaline. When the acid levels in the body become too high it can make the inflammation much worse.

In addition to a balanced diet there are food supplements available that can be of help. Some of these are evening primrose oil, fish oil capsules, vitamin E and vitamin C.

Vitamin C is a marvellous, natural anti-inflamatory and 1-2 grams a day is recommended. An excellent supplement to combat free radical activity is the "Fish Factory". This contains fish oil, beta carotens, vitamin C and E.

Along with these supplements we can use some homeopathic preparations. One of these is "Nettidiath" an excellent blood purifier containing acid levels and improves the immune system.

"Urex tablets" can also be of benefit as these have been known to relieve pain and stiffness in the joints.

By following these simple measures much can be done to assist the body to overcome the miseries of rheumatism and artiritis.
