Could diet help prevent and even treat osteoarthritis?
By Dr Catriona Walsh Image by Katherine Chase We had always assumed that osteoarthritis is a “wear and tear” problem that happens as we get older, unlike autoimmune arthritises like rheumatoid and psoriatic, which are caused by the body attacking itself. However, recently some studies have linked inflammation and diet with osteoarthritis. This latest study suggests that the gut microbiome might play a role in its development. This is just a mechanistic study done on mice, so we need to exercise caution when interpreting it. Human studies will be necessary to confirm these findings. However, this study suggests that feeding obese mice a prebiotic supplement, called oligofructose, altered their gut microbiome in such a way that the amounts of beneficial Bifidobacteria in the gut were increased. The obese mice fed the prebiotics didn’t lose weight either, so their joints were under the same wear and tear type of strain as the obese mice not fed the prebiotics. Despite th