According to a new study, women who are overweight or obese, and particularly those who do not exercise at all or exercise for less than an hour a week, have an increased risk of developing fibromyalgia.
Dr. Phil Mork and his team reviewed data from the Nord-Trondelag Health (HUNT) Study. The first HUNT study (HUNT1) was conducted in 1984 to 1986. HUNT2 was conducted from 1995 to 1997. In the 11 years of data, there were 380 new cases of fibromyalgia identified among the 15,990 women.
The researchers used the body mass index (BMI) to compare the data. BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight (in kilograms) by his or her height (in meters, squared). BMI can also be calculated by multiplying weight (in pounds) by 705, then dividing by height (in inches) twice. A BMI or 25 is considered overweight, over 30 is considered obese and over 40 is considered severly obese.
The HUNT studies showed that women with a BMI greater than 25 had a 60% t o70% increased risk of developing fibromyalgia compared to women with a health BMI score.
“Being overweight or obese was associated with an increased risk of fibromyalgia, especially among women who also reported low levels of leisure time physical exercise,” the researchers conclude. “Community-based measures aimed at reducing the incident of fibromyalgia should emphasize the importance of regular physical exercise and maintenance of normal body weight.”
However, the study also showed that exercise tended to offset the risk of developing fibromyalgia as a result of being overweight. The more that the women exercised the lower their risk of developing fibromyalgia. The beneficial effect of exercise was similar with those that were overweight or obese.
The researchers did not entirely understand how excess weight played into the increase in risk. However, there has been some research that suggests that increased levels of certain inflammatory proteins may play a role in both fibromyalgia and obesity.
“The results of this study underline the connection between exercise, obesity, and well-being. And a person who exercises and is conscious about their weight will have better health and that may include a lower risk of developing fibromyalgia,” says Eric Matteson, MD, chair of the department of rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
The results of the study were published in the May issue of Arthritis Care & Research.
What we eat is known to affect overall health and the functioning of the body’s systems. Studies have shown that a Mediterranean diet, which includes olive oil, has a positive impact on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms. But until recently, there has only been anecdotal evidence of changes in diet resulting in RA symptom improvement.
In addition, rheumatoid arthritis is a significant risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Over 30% of deaths of people with RA are directly attributable to cardiovascular events.
A recent study published in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy found that a gluten-free vegan diet lowered low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and oxidizedLDL (OxLDL) cholesterol, as well as raised the level of natural antibodies that fight the compounds that cause the symptoms of chronic RA.
The study, led by Professor Johan Frostegard of the Rheumatology Unit and Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, involved 66 rheumatoid arthritis patients. The participants were randomly divided into 2 groups – 38 who ate a gluten-free vegan diet, and 28 who ate a well balanced but non-vegan diet for a year. The vegan diet was structured so that protein accounted for 10% of daily energy intake, carbohydrate 60% and fat for 30%.
The researchers analyzed the blood levels of fatty, lipid molecules, cholesterol levels and other factors at the beginning, of the study, at 3 months and at 1 year.
Prof. Frostegard’s team found that the gluten-free vegan diet reduced LDL and OxLDL levels and raised beneficial antibodies. Those consuming the gluten-free vegan diet also had a lowered body-mass index. The other fatty molecules, including high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and triglycerides remained the same. This group also experienced a modest improvement in the number of swollen joints and a reduction in inflammation.
The control group showed no significant differences in these blood compounds or their RA symptoms.
Prof. Fostegard did acknowledge that this study group was not large enough to draw definite conclusions and that a larger study would need to be undertaken.
There are also additional complications with a diet related study. Getting patients to agree to change their diets for a long period of time is very difficult. Also, it is not possible to conduct a “blinded” trial since the participants know which type of diet they are following.
GD Star Rating loading...
Originally posted 2008-03-24 16:40:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Several studies have been performed on the relationship between hip or knee osteoarthritis and increased bone mineral density (BMD), but there have been few that have addressed the relationship in hand osteoarthritis.
A study was published last month in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases that does just that – compare the BMD or hand osteoarthritis patients to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and controls.
190 women, aged 50 to 80 years, with hand osteoarthritis, 194 with rheumatoid arthritis and 122 controls were involved in this cross-sectional study. The participants had BMD measurements of the hip, femoral neck and lumbar spine using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Other relevant information was obtained through interviews, questionnaires, and clinical joint examination.
The researchers found that patients with hand osteoarthritis had significantly higher BMD levels than the RA or control groups.
They also found the there was no significant difference in the frequency of osteoporosis, a bone disease resulting in loss of BMD, between the osteoarthritis and control groups. However, the frequency of osteoporosis in RA patients was significantly higher than in the osteoarthritis patients.
The researchers did not find any link between the BMD levels and the duration or severity of the disease symptoms.
The study was conducted by Dr. I. K. Haugen and colleagues from Diakonhjemmet Hospital in Oslo, Norway.
GD Star Rating loading...
Originally posted 2008-01-04 22:16:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
A new study by scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine suggests that a drug approved for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) reduces severe illness and death in mice exposed to the Influenza A virus. The researchers theorize that tempering the body’s immune system response to influenza infection may lessen some of the more severe symptoms and may even reduce mortality from this virus.
The researchers found that mice infected with the Influenza A virus responded positively to a drug called Abatacept, most commonly used as a treatment for people with RA.
“We found that treating the mice with Abatacept minimized tissue damage caused by the immune response, but still enabled the body to rid itself of the virus. The mice didn’t become as sick, recovered much faster and had much less damage to the lungs, compared to mice that weren’t given the drug,” said the study’s senior author, Donna L. Farber, Ph.D., professor of surgery and microbiology and immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
“Moreover, treatment with Abatacept significantly improved survival for mice infected with a lethal dose of influenza virus,” Dr. Farber says. “The survival rate for the treated mice was 80 percent, compared to 50 percent for the mice that weren’t treated.”
The drug does not interfere with the immune system’s early, rapid response in the lungs, which helps to kill the virus, but it prevents “memory” T-cells from overreacting, which produces multiple negative effects. “It’s this overactive immune response that can make you feel sick – and can also lead to pneumonia,” she says.
It is thought that this tissue damage in the lungs as a result of the aggressive immune response was the leading cause of death from pandemic strains of flu, such as the avian flu and the 1918 Spanish flu. It is also thought to be true of the early cases of H1N1 “swine” flu.
Dr. Farber says, “We believe that our findings are very significant because they provide a potential new treatment for infection by the influenza virus – one that would dampen the immune response, yet still preserve its protective effects.”
The researchers are now testing Abatacept in mice that have not previously been exposed to the flu virus, trying to determine how well they respond to the drug once they have become very sick. Instead of having “memory” T-cells, these mice have what are known as “naïve” T-cells, which have never been activated by being exposed to influenza previously. Depending on the results, Dr. Farber hopes to one day bring this promising new immunotherapy to the clinic for the benefit of patients.
Abatacept is manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb and marketed under the name Orencia and is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Abatacept is not approved for treating influenza.
There are three types of seasonal influenza, A, B and C, and a number of subtypes of Influenza A, including a new strain of the H1N1 virus, also known as the “swine flu,” which has recently emerged and caused illness and a number of deaths this year in Mexico, the United States and other countries around the world.
The researchers report was published in the June 1 edition of The Journal of Immunology, which is now available online.
GD Star Rating loading...
Originally posted 2009-05-26 14:59:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
A new one time treatment is being tested by scientists in Great Britain which could potentially “switch off” rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers are theorizing that the drug will turn off the immune system response that is the cause of the debilitating disease. This may put the RA patient into remission for years, or even potentially for life.
The trials, led by Clinical Rheumatology Professor John Isaacs at Newcastle, are scheduled to start next month and will initially involve 40 patients.
The drug being tested is called otelixizumab which was used in the past in stronger doses to prevent rejection of organs by transplant patients.
Otelixizumab targets T-cells, white blood cells that are part of the body’s immune system which are key to the process in RA. The researchers believe that if they can “switch off” the signals from the T-cells they can halt RA at the source.
The trial participants will receive a one-off dose of otelixizumab, administered intravenously for between two and five hours a day over five consecutive days. Current treatments for rheumatoid arthritis can send patients into remission, but these they have to be administered on an ongoing basis.
“There is the potential that this switch off could last forever. Perhaps this would only be in patients who we treat at the early stage of the disease. However, the chance of this happening in patients who have had the disease for a while is not altogether absent” says Professor Isaacs.
If the trials show that the treatment is successful researchers hope that they can develop a form of the drug which can be easily injected by the patients themselves.
If successful, the drug could be available to patients within a decade.
GD Star Rating loading...
Originally posted 2010-04-15 12:22:08. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Recent Comments