Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder. Your immune system becomes overactive, producing inflammatory compounds that attack your joints. If left untreated, RA can deform your joints and impair your ability to perform basic tasks like typing or opening a jar.
Unfortunately, RA affects more that just your joints. It can also affect your organs. The rampant inflammation in your system attacks your skin, your heart, your lungs and even your eyes.
Rheumatoid Arthritis and the Eyes
The inflammation associated with RA can aggravate and irritate the tissues in and around your eyes. Most commonly, RA patients experience redness and pain around the eyes. In more severe cases, a patient may experience some vision loss. RA is also associated with a higher risk of Sjogren's Syndrome, a condition that causes chronic dry eye.
Fortunately, in most cases, the effects of RA eye problems are mild. Often you can relieve or eliminate symptoms by making smarter food choices.
Foods That Help
Food creates either an inflammatory or anti-inflammatory response in your body. Some foods help to reduce inflammation while others increase it. Because RA is an inflammatory disease, you can help reduce its effects on your eyes by choosing foods that help to lower inflammation.
Among the best anti-inflammatory foods are any foods rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants help to relieve stress in the body caused by unstable molecules called free radicals. In doing so they help to lower chronic inflammation levels. The primary sources of antioxidants are fruits and vegetables. As a general guideline, choose fruits and vegetables that are the brightest in color. Blueberries, spinach, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, kale, and cantaloupe are all good choices.
High fiber foods also help reduce inflammation. In a study published in the October 2009 issue of Diabetes Care, researchers from University College in London examined the link between low fiber diets and the development of diabetes. Their research also showed that higher fiber intake is associated with lower levels of certain markers of inflammation including C-reactive protein and interleukin-6. To increase the fiber in your diet, eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Nuts and beans are excellent sources of fiber, as well.
Foods to Avoid
In addition to eating more of the foods that help to lower inflammation, you can also help reduce the RA-related pain and redness in and around your eyes by avoiding foods that increase inflammation. The worst offenders are foods that are high in refined sugars and grains and processed fats. These kinds of foods lead to high levels of glucose and free fatty acids in the blood, which result in the production of inflammatory compounds throughout your body.
By avoiding these kinds of foods and eating more foods that help to relieve inflammation, you can reduce and control your rheumatoid arthritis and even eliminate the effect it has on your eyes.
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