In a new study published in Annals of Rheumatic Disease, Hu and colleagues[1] used the extensive Nurses' Health Study data set to investigate the role of diet in the risk for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Of the over 76,000 women in the prospective study, over 1000 had confirmed RA. Specifically, the authors of the study evaluated the role of "healthy eating patterns" before a diagnosis of RA, where primary dietary intake was initially assessed by a food frequency questionnaire, a multi-item semiquantitative instrument that assesses intake of a variety of items.
As a next step, the data from the food frequency questionnaire were used to calculate the 2010 Alternate Healthy Eating Index, a high score on which has been associated with reduced risk for a variety of chronic diseases. As an example, a high score would include a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; modest alcohol consumption; and low intake of red meat.[2]
Overall, a healthy eating pattern as characterized by a higher Alternate Healthy Eating Index score was associated with a nonsignificantly decreased risk for RA. However, in analyses that were adjusted for a variety of factors, including body mass index (BMI) and smoking, a healthier diet was associated with significantly reduced risk for RA in women whose disease onset occurred at 55 years of age or younger, and in particular for women in that age group who developed seropositive RA.
