RA is not the same as osteoarthritis, which develops with age or with wear-and-tear on the joints. RA occurs much less often, but is usually more severe. RA and lupus are both autoimmune disorders.
The researchers tracked nearly 185,000 women for up to 24 years. Overall, they found no clear relationship between the women's estimated intake of antioxidants -- including vitamins A, C and E and beta-carotene -- and their likelihood of being diagnosed with RA or lupus.
The findings contradict hints from earlier research that women with higher intake of antioxidants might have lower risks of developing these diseases.
One reason for checking whether antioxidants in the diet would have an effect is that people with RA and lupus have lower antioxidant levels in their blood than healthy individuals. And studies in mice have shown that giving antioxidants helps reduce the type of immune-system-triggered inflammation that's associated with these diseases.
Not only do antioxidants help control inflammation, but they also protect body tissue from potentially cell-damaging particles called reactive oxygen species.
But in the new study reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers found no link between the women's reported antioxidant intake and their risk of developing RA or lupus. The women were participating in the Nurses' Health Study and Nurses' Health Study II, two large projects that have tracked lifestyle factors and disease risk among nearly 240,000 U.S. women since 1976 and 1989, respectively.
The study had its limitations -- including the fact that it was observational. The researchers merely asked the women about their antioxidant intake and then observed what happened to them over time, so the outcomes may just be coincidental. A study in which participants are randomly assigned to take antioxidant supplements or not, then have their RA and lupus rates followed over time, would provide stronger evidence as to whether the nutrients affect the risk of developing the diseases.
Nor can the findings exclude the possibility that significant deficiency in certain antioxidants might play a role in RA or lupus risk, note the researchers, led by Dr. Karen H. Costenbader of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Lupus -- known formally as systemic lupus erythematosus -- involves painful, swollen joints, fatigue and skin rash, but it can also damage other parts of the body, including the heart and blood vessels. RA arises when the immune system mistakenly attacks joints all over the body, leading to inflammation, pain and progressive joint damage.
Costenbader's team focused on 184,643 women who were free of RA or lupus at the outset and had completed detailed questionnaires on their diets and supplement use starting in 1980 or 1991, depending on the study.
The researchers used those reports to estimate the women's daily intakes of vitamins A, C and E, as well as alpha- and beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, beta-cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin.
Between 1980 and 2004, 787 women were newly diagnosed with RA, while 192 were diagnosed with lupus.
Women with higher antioxidant intakes did tend to maintain a healthier lifestyle overall, the study found. They were generally more physically active and less likely to smoke, for example. When those factors were taken into account, antioxidant consumption itself showed no strong relationship to RA or lupus risk.
This finding, of course, does not negate the importance of eating antioxidant-rich foods for one's overall health. Foods high in the antioxidants assessed in this study include citrus fruits, leafy greens like spinach and kale, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and red or orange fruits and vegetables like carrots, watermelon and sweet potatoes.
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Showing posts with label lupus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lupus. Show all posts
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Super-Antioxidant: Vitamin E's Role In Lupus Treatment
By: Mitamins Team
Lupus disease, like any autoimmune disease, is an extremely difficult condition to treat. How can you fight against something causing you immense discomfort when that something is your own body? Because of this, lupus treatment is often restricted to controlling the signs and symptoms of lupus while the cause of the disease is found. In 90% of cases the cause is never found, meaning a long course of medication for many. This is why more and more people are turning to the natural choice of vitamins as lupus treatment. A leading light in natural lupus
treatment is vitamin E.
Lupus: The Enemy Within
What can vitamin E do to relieve the signs and symptoms of lupus? The answer to that question begins with looking more closely with what we are up against. The most dangerous and common type of lupus disease is Systemic lupus Erythematosus (SLE), which can affect and damage any of the body’s organs such as skin, liver, kidney, joints, blood vessels, brain, blood, and nervous system. The second most common type of lupus disease is Discoid Lupus Erythematosus (DLE), which only affects skin. The signs and symptoms of this type of lupus are skin rash and scaly sores appearing on the face, neck, and chest. The signs and symptoms of
SLE will be specific to the part of the body affected, although usually the rash is also present, and can often be misdiagnosed as a different disease.
The other major sign and symptoms of lupus, common to both SLE and DLE, include chronic inflammation in various parts of the body. This causes free radicals to be released, reactive molecules with unpaired electrons that reek havoc amongst healthy cells in the body.
Free-radicals are extremely destructive and so increase the severity of lupus symptoms, causing more discomfort to sufferers.
Luckily, rampaging free-radicals can be “mopped up” by antioxidants, a group of vitamins, minerals, and herbs that are immensely powerful in restoring and maintaining the body’s health. It is vitamin E’s membership of this elite group that makes it helpful in the treatment of
lupus. But there is also more…
The Properties of Vitamin E
Vitamin C, E, and beta carotene are recommended by doctors to treat lupus(http://www.mitamins.com/disease/Lupus.html). Vitamin E posses many useful properties that help in the treatment of lupus disease:
1. It’s a Powerful Antioxidant: Intake of Alpha-tocopherol (a-tocopherol), a form of Vitamin E, is a natural way to treat lupus disease. A-tocopherol is the most active form of Vitamin E and a powerful antioxidant, which protects the body from the ill effects of free radicals and the damage
caused by them. Because of its antioxidant properties, Vitamin E plays a key role in protecting body from a number of chronic disorders, besides lupus disease, that affect various parts of the body. Vitamin E does this by donating its own electrons to make a pair with a free radical’s
unpaired one, thereby “neutralizing” its destructiveness.
2. It Reduces the Levels of Cytokines: Vitamin E also plays an important role in the treatment of lupus disease because it possesses the ability to control the levels of pro - and anti-inflammatory
cytokines. Cytokines are a group of proteins and peptides, which work as signaling compounds and play important roles in the immune system function.
3. A study conducted on mice showed that Vitamin E can significantly lower the levels of inflammatory cytokines, and inhibit the main symptom of lupus disease: inflammation.
Another study conducted on 67 people suffering from DLE showed that high doses (1,500 to 3,000 IU) of Vitamin E per day for 19 months along with pantothenic acid helped to treat DLE to great extent. However individual doses of pantothenic acid were ineffective in the treatment
of lupus disease. With vitamin supplements, as with so many things in life, commitment is crucial.
What Next?
Now that we know Vitamin E has a number of properties making it beneficial in lupus treatment, we can think about using natural supplements as opposed to synthetic drugs.
Vitamin E in the form of a-tocopherol is available as supplements. The most natural form of a-tocopherol is labeled, confusingly, with a ‘D’, while the synthetic form of this supplement is labeled “DL”. It is the more natural, D, a-tocopherol that is biologically active in the human body, and more easily absorbed to treat the signs and symptoms of lupus. A-tocopherol, vitamin E supplements are often mixed with Vitamin C to make a more effective supplement for the treatment of lupus.
Good luck! (http://www.mitamins.com/disease/Lupus.html)
About the Author:
Mitamins team bd@mitamins.net Targeted: Lupus; Safety: Avoid Vitamins Overdose, Supplement Drug Interactions; Quality: Freshly Made with Brand Ingredients.
vitamin support for lupus treatment*
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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