You may wonder how dietary fiber that is expected to be affecting the stomach and arthritis that affects joints are connected. A major link is inflammation, which is a body’s reaction to irritating substances. Inflammation is characterized by pain, swelling, redness, heat, and loss of function in the affected part. A low-fiber diet increases levels of substances that fuel inflammation in the body, which contributes to the occurrence of arthritis.

The inflammation link is relevant in both inflammatory arthritis, which is known to be due to inflammation; and osteoarthritis, which is associated with wear and tear of a joint. In the next two minutes of reading this article, you will have understood the inflammation link and perhaps resolved to avoid the endless arthritis medications by increasing the intake of dietary fiber.   

If you are an osteoarthritis patient, perhaps your doctor has recommended weight loss to reduce weight-associated pressure on knee joints that could be causing the wear and tear. One evidence-based strategy for losing weight is taking food that is rich in fiber. Dietary fiber prevents excessive intake of food since it causes a feeling of fullness. Thus, when your food is fiber-rich, there are barely excess energy sources for storage in form of fat, which prevents overweight and obesity.  

Now onto the relationship between dietary fiber and inflammation… Researchers have observed that levels of chemicals that drive inflammation in the body are slightly but consistently higher in people whose food has insufficient fiber compared to people who take fiber-rich diets. The slight rise in the chemicals makes the body have some low-level inflammation throughout. That chronic low-grade inflammation contributes to osteoarthritis at the knee joint and causes problems in other parts of the body.     

How does dietary fiber prevent the rise in levels of drivers of inflammation, you may ask? The answer is in the stomach. Dietary fiber improves the balance in the composition of good bacteria and other microorganisms in your gut, known as gut microbiota. When there is a balance in gut microbiota, the bacteria in it release less lipopolysaccharide (a substance that triggers the release of excess drivers of inflammation when it enters the blood). Besides, the balance prevents excess permeability of the gut, hence not as much of the lipopolysaccharide released in the gut gets into the blood to trigger the production of drivers of inflammation.   

Can you reduce the chances of getting arthritis or experiencing its symptoms if you increase dietary fiber in your daily food? The answer is YES. Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Centre on Aging followed about 6000 people aged 45 years and above by checking their routine dietary fiber levels and assessing them for indicators of knee osteoarthritis. They observed that people whose diet was rich in fiber had lower incidences of knee osteoarthritis compared to people whose diet comprised little fiber.

Which foods are rich in fiber? The answer is most unprocessed plant-based foods. They include legumes (e.g. peas and beans), nuts (e.g. groundnuts and peanuts), and seeds (e.g. pumpkin seeds). Other fiber rich foods are vegetables (e.g. cabbage and broccoli) and fruits (e.g. orange, and apple with skin). Notably, processing plant-based foods, which commonly entails removing the skin, reduces the amount of fiber you can get from them.

If you need a customized dietary plan to make your diet fiber-rich, www.medrightconsulting.com is at your service. Contact us to describe your case, and we will use research evidence to recommend appropriate food types and quantities based on the types of food available in your local market or grocery.