RA is a chronic inflammatory disease that is linked to an increased risk of heart disease and atherosclerosis- the buildup of plaque in the arteries that can lead to heart attack and stroke. Sticking to a gluten-free vegan diet lowers the most damaging forms of artery-clogging cholesterol and increases levels of antibodies that may be protective against the inflammation that contributes to both RA and heart disease, researchers report in the March 18 issue of Arthritis Research & Therapy.
To discover the effects of a vegan, gluten-free diet on RA and its heart disease risks, Johan Frostegard and his colleagues at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden randomly assigned 66 patients (average age, 50) with RA to a vegan diet, gluten-free diet, or a well-balanced diet for one year. The vegan diet contained vegetables, nuts, fruits, buckwheat, millet, corn, rice, sunflower seeds, and sesame milk. The well-balanced diet incorporated a variety of foods from every food group.
The researchers checked participants' blood samples at three and 12 months. They found that people who followed the vegan, gluten-free diet showed improvement in several markers of heart disease. At 12 months:
