The RA, Vitamin, Mineral, and Food Connection - Part 4

This article concludes a 4-part series entitled, "The RA, Vitamin, Mineral, and Food Connection.” If you have not done so, I highly encourage you to read, “The RA, Vitamin, Mineral, and Food Connection" Parts 1, 2, and 3. The first three articles lay the necessary groundwork and foundation to prepare you for this article. 

In the previous articles three articles, we have discovered what vitamins and minerals are. We also learned the vitamins and minerals that RA patients are commonly deficient in. There is now an understanding of why it is important to have appropriate levels of these vitamins and minerals in our bodies.

The importance of well-balanced nutrition

Our bodies need key micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals to function properly. The previous articles have also helped us to understand how specific foods we eat can impact and help us with maintaining a proper balance of our body’s vitamins and minerals. 

It is when we start to have deficiencies in our vitamin and mineral levels that our body is unable to perform its well-choreographed dance of life. In this article, we are going to explore the connection that rheumatoid arthritis has with specific vitamin and mineral deficiencies noted in RA patients.

Poor nutritional status in people with RA

The John Hopkins Medical Centers website discusses the nutritional risk that is present in patients with RA who experience inflammation. The site links, “poor nutritional status”, in RA patients for the following reasons.

Chronic inflammation and cytokines

“...Result of weight loss and cachexia linked to cytokine production.”¹ Cytokines are proteins that are produced by our cells and aid the body in producing inflammation. They help to regulate our body. It is our body's response to the disease.

In patients with RA experiencing chronic inflammation, their body can produce excessive amounts of cytokines (i.e. tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-1). This leads to an increased protein breakdown and increased resting metabolism rate, linking it to weight loss and overall wasting away and malnutrition (vitamin and mineral deficiencies) of the body.¹

Taking medication on a long-basis

John Hopkins website also discusses that when arthritis medication is taken on a long-term basis, it can lead to malnutrition and contribute to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The site notes, “One example of this is observed in patients receiving methotrexate, where patients are frequently identified with folic acid deficiency.” ¹

I personally have taken methotrexate orally and through injection. This was true for me, and I was found to be deficient in folic acid. My physician did prescribe folic acid in supplement form.

Nutrition as another tool in our RA toolbox

The purpose of this four-part series was to provide you with another tool to help you and your physicians in your fight with rheumatoid arthritis. It is important to understand how RA and RA treatments can affect our bodies.

Knowledge is power

It is equally important to learn how we can use nutrition alongside our western medicines to fight RA.  I am hopeful for more scientific research in the future on nutrition and the role of vitamins and minerals in helping our body to fight RA.