Relieve Arthritis Symptoms With Multi Vitamin and Minerals

A rheumatoid arthritis diet that involves plenty of multi vitamins and minerals are highly recommended. Increasing the intake of vitamin and minerals can definitely help to relieve the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. The consumption of vitamins and minerals can be increased through either diet or supplement or both. The effect of vitamin and minerals deficiency, especially for rheumatoid arthritis patients, will have a very serious implication to the health of the joints.

When bones and joints are not receiving enough vitamins and minerals needed to maintain them, they are more likely to degenerate. It’s especially detrimental to rheumatoid arthritis patients when he or she is malnutrition. Increasing the intake of vitamin and minerals definitely will improve the overall well being of rheumatoid arthritis patients especially in reducing inflammation.

Fruit and vegetable are excellent source of natural sweetener and can be used both fresh and dried. It also provide useful amount of Vitamin C and other trace of antioxidants.

If you suspect yourself of having some kind of deficiency in any specific minerals and vitamins, it’s worth consulting a nutritionist and having a blood test to determine which specific minerals and vitamins are lacking. Vitamins and minerals are important chemical substance required by the body not only to fight diseases but also to maintain the health of joints as well as other tissues.

Iron, zinc, copper, selenium and manganese are all important minerals for joint health and their absorption can be impeded by consuming too much tea, coffee and bran. The traditional arthritis remedy of wearing a copper bracelet can be helpful, as small quantities of copper can be absorbed through the skin.

Free Radicals

Free radicals have very serious impact on arthritis patients. Free radicals are created when oxygen is processed through bloodstream and into the tissues. Although these free radicals are very unstable and only exist for 1 to 2 seconds, in this short time they can cause all kinds of damage in the body by taking electrons from molecules in tissues.

Antioxidants neutralize these free radicals by donating extra electrons to them before they can take them away from the body tissues. Therefore, antioxidants are important elements in the body defense against free radicals. Increasing the intake of food and diets which contains plenty of antioxidants is recommended especially for improving the condition of rheumatoid arthritis patients.

You can eat plenty of food rich in antioxidants; vitamins A, C, E and beta-carotene are the best known of these nutrients, although lycopene (found in tomatoes), zinc and manganese are also important. These antioxidants are best obtained through diets which include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Arthritis patients are encouraged to obtain these antioxidants the natural way through fresh fruits and raw vegetables. Antioxidants are powerful substances or chemicals that are able to relieve the swelling and pain caused by arthritis.

Supplements can ensure you receive the trace elements that may be missing, and are useful source of antioxidants.

Many flavonoids (the chemicals that give peppers and fruits such as blue berries, black berries, cherries and lemons their color) are also powerful antioxidants. It is important that arthritis patients absorbs plenty of antioxidants, both by eating a diet rich in antioxidants and by taking vitamin and mineral supplement if taking fresh fruits and raw vegetables are difficult. Ideally these supplements should be taken under medical or nutritional supervision, so that they can be adapted to suit your particular needs.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A can do wonders for rheumatoid arthritis patients. It’s one of the few powerful antioxidants that can improve the health of joints and reduce swelling as well as shortening the pain of arthritis.

Vitamin A is found in liver, especially fish liver oils, eggs, orange and yellow fruits, and green leafy vegetables, vitamin A should not be taken in excess, that is in levels of over 10,000 IUs per day. A spoonful of that old favorite, cod liver oil is the simple, if not the most pleasant, way of increasing Vitamin A intake.

Alternatively, include chicken, calf’s or lamb’s liver in some dishes. A little chicken liver can be added to a meat stew without changing the flavor too much. However, as arthritis patients should be trying to reduce meat consumption, it is better to eat a fairly regular supply of eggs and eat plenty of yellow and orange vegetables (carrots, yellow, orange and red peppers and yellow squash) and fruits in salads and vegetable dishes.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that has been well known to fight off disease and protect the body from free radicals. It’s especially important for rheumatoid arthritis patients to take as much Vitamin C as possible.

Vitamin C is found in most fresh fruits and vegetables but is easily destroyed by the cooking process. Eating fresh and raw fruits and vegetables automatically increase vitamin C consumption. People who avoid eating citrus fruits or members of the solanacae family (potatoes, peppers, chillies, tomatoes) as part of an exclusion diet will still find an abundance of other fresh fruits and vegetables that contains substantial quantities of vitamin C.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E plays an equally important role in suppressing inflammation and swelling of joints for arthritis patients. Vitamin E is found in most vegetable oils (olive, corn and so on), nuts, seeds, avocados (which are also a rich source of vitamin C), peaches, broccoli, spinach and asparagus. The seeds and seed oils that are eaten as part of an anti-inflammatory diet will therefore have the additional benefit of providing a substantial amount of vitamin E.

Selenium

Grains and nuts are sources of selenium, but their precise content varies according to the soul in which they were grown. Selenium interacts with vitamin E, making both of these nutrients more powerful. Brazil nuts, grains and pulses (especially lentils), mung beans and red kidney beans are good for boosting the levels in the diet. Fish is also a good source of selenium.

Beta-carotene

This is the best known of over 600 carotenoids, which are the plant pigments that give yellow, orange and reed fruit their color. Scientists are greatly interested in carotenoids, which they suspect maybe even more powerful antioxidants than the established vitamins A, C and E. Like many of the carotenoids, beta-carotene can be converted by the body into vitamin A. Beta carotene is to be found in carrots, apricots, cantaloupe melon, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, spinach, kale and parsley.

Conclusion

All in all, vitamins and minerals are powerful antioxidants that help to improve the overall well being of rheumatoid arthritis patients. A rheumatoid arthritis diet that includes multiple vitamins and minerals will definitely reduce the inflammation caused by arthritis. Minerals and vitamins are best obtained through diets that are rich in fresh fruits and raw vegetables to preserve some of the vitamins from being destroyed by heat. Antioxidants are powerful substances that can suppress free radicals from causing damages to joints and tissues in our body.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 20th, 2010 at 12:51 am and is filed under Vitamins and Minerals For Arthritis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.