Pro-inflammatory Diet Increases Risk of RA in Younger Adults

September 6, 2018

Foods that promote inflammation can raise the risk of seropositive RA in younger women but not in those older than age 55.

Reference1. Sparks JA, Barbhaiya M, Tedeschi SK, et al. Inflammatory dietary pattern and risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women. Clin Rheumatol. 2018 Aug 14. doi: 10.1007/s10067-018-4261-5. [Epub ahead of print]

Sparks and colleagues at Harvard Medical School in Boston have discovered that a pro-inflammatory diet increases the incidence of seropositive RA in women aged 55 years and younger but not in women older than age 55.¹ Scroll through the slides for the details of the study and the take-home points for physicians.

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RA, rheumatoid arthritis.

Certain foods may promote or prevent inflammation-an important factor in the development of RA.

BMI, body mass index.

BMI, body mass index; CI, confidence interval; EDIP, Empirical Dietary Inflammatory Pattern; HR, hazard ratio; RA, rheumatoid arthritis.

Among women ≤ 55 years old, increasing EDIP was associated with increased overall risk of RA. HRs (95% CIs) across EDIP quartiles were 1.14 (0.86-1.51), 1.35 (1.03-1.77), and 1.38 (1.05-1.83) (P = .01). The association was slightly less when additionally adjusted for BMI (HRQ4 vs Q1, 1.25; 95% CI, 0.94-1.65; P = .09).

BMI, body mass index; RA, rheumatoid arthritis.

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Pro-inflammatory Diet Increases Risk of RA in Younger Adults

Gregory M. Weiss, MD