10 Foods That Can Trigger Your Joint Pain
Do you know that eating certain foods on a regular basis may trigger your joint pain? Suffering from Joint pain can worsen over time, and affect your daily activities. Eliminating certain foods from your regular diet can help you overcome the debilitating joint pain and will also improve your quality of life.
10 Foods to Avoid with Arthritis – Joint Pain
#1 Sugary foods
Some of the food ingredients that can aggravate your joint pain , Image Credits: pixabay
Sugars can be hard to resist for those who have a sweet tooth. Sugary foods like fruit juices, desserts, chocolates, and candies can worsen your joint pain by triggering the inflammatory cascade. This is because regular consumption of sugars may lead to fructose malabsorption. Unabsorbed fructose sugar, in turn, may activate your body’s defence system by recognizing it as a foreign body. Thereby, contributing to pain and inflammation.
#2 Saturated Fats
Saturated fats containing food, Image Credits: pixabay
High cholesterol levels in your body can also trigger inflammation and worsen arthritis or joint pain. Foods containing saturated fats like oils, cheese, salad dressings, butter, red meat and full-fat dairy products accumulate in your adipose tissue and may trigger inflammation in the joints causing joint pain.
#3 Trans Fats
Fried potatoes, Image Credits: pixabay
Always check for labels while buying food products. Junk food like fried foods, chips, crackers or other fast foods are made by reusing the same oil. The foods which are cooked in such oil are high in trans fats which generate free radicals in our body. In order to fight those free radicals, the inflammatory cascade is activated. This, in turn, triggers and aggravates the joint pain.
#4 Refined Carbohydrates
Carbohydrate-rich food, Image Credits: pixabay
Refined carbohydrates are high in glycemic index. These foods are devoid of fibre, nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Consuming refined carbohydrates like bread made from refined wheat flour, crackers, instant mashed potatoes, fried foods like french fries, pastries, baked cookies, promote the production of advanced glycation end (AGE) products. Formation of AGEs contributes to oxidative stress by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in inflammation and pain.
#5 Insoluble fibres
fruits and vegetables, Image Credits: pixabay
Insoluble fibres like cellulose and lignin are found mostly in fruits, vegetables and whole grains. These fibres can alter the intestinal permeability when taken regularly in large amounts. Altered intestinal permeability may trigger the inflammatory mediator’s such as plasma fibrinogen, tumour necrosis factor, and C-reactive proteins to cause pain and swelling in the joints.
#6 MSG
Chinese food with MSG, Image Credits: pixabay
Mono-sodium glutamate (MSG) makes for an important component of Chinese food as a flavouring agent. Foods like noodles, salad dressings, deli meats, soy sauce, prepared soups and soup mixes, are loaded with monosodium glutamate. When such foods are consumed they can trigger the inflammatory cascade and worsen joint pain.
#7 Gluten and Casein
Gluten and casein protein, Image Credits: pixabay
Gluten is a wheat protein whereas casein is a milk protein. People with arthritis or chronic joint condition are found to be intolerant towards such proteins. These proteins can trigger the defence system and stimulate an autoimmune reaction. Also, gluten protein is hard to digest and adopting a gluten-free diet can help you with your joint pain. This is due to a protective effect on your small intestine.
#8 Aspartame
Aspartame sugar, Image Credits: pixabay
Aspartame sugar may activate your immune system and lead to inflammation and pain if you are found sensitive to it. Try avoiding aspartame sugar in your foods.
#9 Alcohol
Alcohol, Image Credits: pixabay
Excessive use of alcohol alters your liver function. The liver helps eliminate toxins from our body. Altered liver function due to alcohol abuse may generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to tissue damage. This may worsen your joint pain.
#10 Iodized salt
Salt, Credits: pixabay
Consuming excessive salt can alter your kidney function to get rid of those excessive salt. Sodium in salt expands the blood volume, resulting in vein expansion. In pre-existing conditions like arthritis, joint pain may worsen due to excessive salt in the body.
To sup up, consider avoiding the above mentioned foods, finding suitable alternatives to them, or reducing their consumption if have issues with joint pain.