These Everyday Eating Habits May Reduce Your Risk Of Rheumatoid Arthritis

From health.yahoo.com

By Zhané Slambee

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune condition that causes painful, swollen, and stiff joints. Genetics, smoking, and other environmental factors have all been linked to the condition's development.

Diet isn't usually on that list, but a new mini review suggests there may be an unexpected link between the food we eat and the processes involved in RA.

The dietary pattern linked to lower RA risk

RA can begin developing years before joint pain or stiffness appears. During this time, a person's genes and environmental influences, such as smoking and potentially diet, may affect whether the condition eventually develops.

To investigate, researchers from King's College London and the University of Nicosia reviewed existing research on diet and RA risk. They found that people who followed a Mediterranean-style diet more closely tended to have a lower risk of developing RA.

The Mediterranean diet prioritizes vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts, olive oil, and fish, and limits processed foods. One study in the review that followed over 117,000 participants found that greater adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet was tied to lower RA risk. The association appeared stronger for RA in people who test positive for rheumatoid factor, an antibody found in some people with the condition.

How food may influence autoimmune risk

The researchers point to two possible explanation: body fat and gut bacteria can both affect inflammation, which plays a role in RA.

Fibre-rich foods found in a Mediterranean diet feed beneficial gut bacteria, which produce compounds such as butyrate that help control inflammation and protect the gut lining.

Diets low in fibre may leave these bacteria with less to feed on, potentially disrupting these protective processes.

The Mediterranean diet has also been shown to support weight management. Excess body fat can release inflammatory chemicals, so a healthy weight by adhering adherence to a Mediterranean diet may help keep those inflammatory signals in check.

What this means for your everyday meals

A Mediterranean-style eating pattern is a practical starting point for supporting overall health. Here are a few simple ways to follow this eating pattern.

• Eat more fibre-rich plants: Vegetables, fruit, beans, lentils, and whole grains nourish beneficial gut bacteria.

• Choose healthy fats: Olive oil, nuts, seeds, and omega-3-rich fish support overall health.

• Be mindful of ultra-processed foods: Limit how often foods high in added sugar and refined carbohydrates replace more nutrient-rich options.

• Look beyond diet: Avoid smoking and prioritize other healthy habits, since RA risk involves multiple factors.

The takeaway

This doesn't prove a Mediterranean-style diet prevents RA. Many of the studies identified associations rather than cause and effect. Diet is just one part of the picture, alongside genetics, smoking, hormones, and other environmental influences.

Your joints may be just one more reason to give your diet a second look. Consider a Mediterranean-style eating pattern to support a healthier gut, a more balanced inflammatory response, and potentially a lower RA risk.

https://health.yahoo.com/conditions/musculoskeletal/arthritis/rheumatoid-arthritis/articles/everyday-eating-habits-may-affect-091800893.html 

‘Even my best friend didn’t know’: Usman Khawaja reveals why he kept his rheumatoid arthritis a secret

From theguardian.com

• Opener played through pain to establish himself as a Test cricketer

• ‘I didn’t want anyone to use it against me,’ he says

• 
  

Usman Khawaja has opened up on why he kept the rheumatoid arthritis that threatened his playing future a secret for his entire Test career.

The former Test star releases his autobiography, Sabr, on 10 November, which he said he wrote “for people who do love cricket and for those who don’t”.

“We are all human and go through the ups and downs of life. I go through the ups and downs of cricket and it gets accentuated because everyone gets to see it,” Khawaja said.

One key aspect of Khawaja’s career the public did not know about was the arthritis diagnosis at the age of 22 after the pain in his left knee was so great he couldn’t walk 10m to the bathroom.

Only regular injections kept him on his feet and able to play cricket. He still has them.

“It was debilitating. I took an injection last night,” Khawaja said in Brisbane on Monday. “It was part of the reason that I did my back at the end of my career, but I couldn’t tell anyone.

“I never got injured before I had my arthritic illness, but after that I got injured quite a lot and had to find a way to get my body in the right spot. Even my best friend from high school, Ardil, didn’t know until one year ago.”

The reason Khawaja didn’t open up about it? “I didn’t want anyone to use it against me,” he said. “I felt like I already had all these stereotypes I was trying to beat in Australian cricket, and I didn’t want to use that as an excuse.”

Usman Khawaja has said he played through pain for most of his career after being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Photograph: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images for Cricket Australia

Keeping the illness secret was a feat in itself. He said he was thankful the people who did know initially at Cricket NSW, Cricket Australia and various medical staff “kept to their ethical code and didn’t say anything”.

Khawaja, who made 6,229 Test runs with 16 centuries, did not engage a ghost writer for his book for one simple reason.

“I didn’t think anyone could encapsulate my story like I could because no one has been through the same journey in Australian cricket like I have,” he said.

“The immigrant, brown, Pakistani Muslim kid coming from overseas to play our national game is something I didn’t feel comfortable someone else writing about.”

Khawaja met with Australia captain Pat Cummins to tell him about the aspect of his book that deals with the infamous Sandpapergate ball-tampering episode in South Africa in 2018.

“I didn’t come out in my book to shock and awe,” Khawaja grinned. “It is my story. People have learned over time that I am pretty open and honest about most things. My goal for my story was to relate to everyone.

“I love autobiographies, and cricket ones in particular. I found that people talked a lot about the cricket but not a lot about themself a lot of the time.”

Khawaja writes about his subcontinent life and then his life as a cricketer in Australia. He said there were “funny stories” and “great learnings”.

“There are also some tough times with racial vilification, but amalgamated together it is a different story to anything you would have read in a cricket autobiography,” he said.

Khawaja has proven to be a trailblazer in Australian cricket who opened a door for others to follow.

“There hadn’t been another me before me, but now there are plenty of players with a subcontinent background coming in,” he said. “You’ve got Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha and Gurinder Sandhu.”

Tanveer Sangha and Sandhu have both played white-ball cricket for Australia.

“They haven’t cracked the Tests, which is the hardest,” Khawaja said. “That is always the goal. When we start seeing the Test team represented by the multicultural community, that is when you know you have started to make headway.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/oct/26/usman-khawaja-reveals-why-he-kept-rheumatoid-arthritis-secret

Scientists find that the body’s warmth sensor is secretly a pain switch

From technology.org

University of Warwick scientists have found that a sensor in our nerve endings that detects warm temperatures also plays a direct role in switching on chronic pain signals, a discovery that could lead to better treatments for conditions that affect millions of people. 

Image credit: University of Warwick

Chronic pain, including arthritis pain, affects over a third of UK adults. Current painkillers such as methotrexate and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) work by damping down the immune system, which is overproducing inflammatory agents to cause the pain, but their relief is often short-lived, incomplete, and can leave patients more vulnerable to infection.

Researchers at Warwick’s School of Life Sciences have found an alternative target for alleviating chronic pain – a channel called TRPM2. TRPM2 was previously known mainly as a ‘warmth sensor’ on sensory nerve endings, helping the body detect mild, non-painful, heat.

In the new work published in PNAS, the team discovered that TRPM2 has a second, more troubling job. They found that TRPM2 on sensory nerves is also a pain generator. Prostaglandin E2, a chemical released during inflammation, and autoantibodies, immune proteins produced by the body’s own immune cells, both act directly on TRPM2 to switch on pain signals in nerve cells.

“We found that TRPM2 works like a convergent pain switch, taking very different immune and inflammatory signals and converting them into the electrical impulses that the brain reads as pain,” said lead author, Dr Xuming Zhang, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick. “These signals also switch TRPM2 on through completely unexpected routes, bypassing the cell’s usual signalling pathways entirely.”

As a demonstration of its role in pain, mouse models with TRPM2 removed from nerve cells showed pain caused by prostaglandin E2 and autoantibodies was completely prevented. Chronic arthritis pain and nerve injury pain were also substantially reduced, even though the underlying immune and inflammatory response carried on largely as normal. This suggests TRPM2 is a separate, direct route to pain, working alongside inflammation rather than being caused by it.

Most strikingly, blocking TRPM2 with a drug injected into the joint completely reversed arthritis pain in mice, and the relief lasted two days after a single dose, without dampening the joint inflammation itself.

Dr Zhang continued: “What surprised us most was how completely and how long TRPM2 blockade relieved chronic arthritis pain. That points to TRPM2 as a genuinely promising drug target for treating chronic pain more effectively than current options allow.”

The findings also raise an intriguing biological puzzle: how does a protein built to detect harmless warmth end up driving some of the body’s most stubborn pain? Dr Zhang’s team suggests different populations of TRPM2-carrying nerve cells may be responsible for each job, a question they hope to explore next.

The research was led by co-first authors Dr. Mujahid Alizada, Linda Varghese and Jinquan Yang and was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Versus Arthritis UK, and is published in PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2532289123.

https://www.technology.org/2026/10/25/scientists-find-that-the-bodys-warmth-sensor-is-secretly-a-pain-switch/

Doctors Reveal 5 Early Signs of Arthritis You Should Always Get Checked Out

From prevention.com

Some are more subtle than others 

If you find yourself developing new aches and pains as you get older, it’s normal to wonder whether you could be dealing with arthritis. But while the condition is associated with joint pain and swelling, those symptoms don’t usually come on hard and fast. Luckily, catching the early signs of arthritis and taking action can help lower the odds you’ll be even more uncomfortable down the road.

It's worth noting that there are many types of arthritis and, if you suspect you may have any of them, it’s important to get an evaluation from a healthcare professional. But when most people think of arthritis, they’re often referring to osteoarthritis, which is the most common.

Osteoarthritis happens when the protective cartilage on the ends of your bones wears down over time. “Once damage to cartilage occurs, we do not currently have a way for it to be regenerated or grown back,” explains Jeffrey Zarin, M.D., orthopaedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Los Angeles. However, it’s possible to slow down the progression and take steps to support your joints going forward.

If you’re dealing with joint pain and discomfort, don’t chalk it up to getting older. “Arthritis, while common, is not a ‘normal’ part of aging,” says Will Harvey, M.D., rheumatologist at Tufts Medical Center and president of the American College of Rheumatology. “Pain or other symptoms interfering with daily life should be evaluated.”

Not sure if it could be osteoarthritis? Doctors recommend looking out for these early signs.

Common early signs of arthritis

Not all joint pain is due to arthritis, but there are a few key signs that can surface early to be aware of.

You have joint pain with activity.

“Pain with vigorous activity is somewhat normal, but this is usually muscular pain or soreness,” Dr. Harvey says, which is usually harmless. “Pain in the joints themselves is a more typical sign of arthritis.”

Adaobi Okechukwu, M.D., a primary care physician with Mercy Personal Physicians at Overlea, refers to osteoarthritis pain as “use-related.” That means it gets worse when you load the joint by doing things like walking, climbing stairs, and squatting, and gets better with rest. “It happens because the smooth cartilage that normally cushions the joint is beginning to break down, so the joint no longer glides and absorbs load as effortlessly as it once did,” she explains.

Hiraman//Getty Images

You have brief morning stiffness.

Feeling stiff when you wake up is a “classic” sign you’re dealing with inflammation. “When you do not move your joints when you are sleeping, and you first get up in the morning, the inflammation of inactivity can give a sensation of stiffness until you start to move the joints,” Dr. Zarin says.

This stiffness usually lasts less than 30 minutes, according to Dr. Harvey. You may also notice pain at the end of the day that’s worse than in the morning, he adds.

Your joints click, pop, or crack.

This is a “very common” symptom, according to Dr. Harvey. “I always ask patients if it hurts when this happens,” he says. “Painless popping or cracking is not likely to represent a major problem.” This could simply be due to gas bubbles in your joints, although it can be a sign of arthritis when it’s coupled with other symptoms, per Dr. Zarin. “If the cartilage is not smooth and slippery the way it is supposed to be, certain movements can make mechanical noises or [a sense] of catching,” he says.

You have reduced flexibility.

Your flexibility will naturally go down if you don’t stretch. But you can also lose flexibility due to mechanical issues and inflammation tied to arthritis, according to Dr. Zarin. “If it is swelling around a joint from inflammation, that can decrease the ability of the tissues to move,” he says, which can make it harder to move as you once did.

This can look like trouble bending or straightening your joint as much as you could in the past, fully flexing a knee, or reaching as far as you used to, according to Dr. Okechukwu. “This loss of range of motion is a core feature of osteoarthritis,” she says. “Over time, this reduced flexibility layered on top of pain is a major reason osteoarthritis interferes with everyday tasks.”

You have mild joint swelling.

Joint swelling is a signal of inflammation, Dr. Zarin says. “When inflammation occurs, the body increases the circulation to the area where the problem is,” he explains. “This can cause fluid build-up, warmth, and the sensation or appearance of swelling.”

If you have joints that quickly swell up and then dissipate, or if you have swelling that sticks around, Dr. Harvey recommends you get it evaluated sooner rather than later. “Joints that are slowly getting larger likely represent arthritis,” he says.

Why it’s important to spot signs of arthritis early

If you suspect that you’re developing arthritis, Dr. Zarin says it’s best to take action sooner rather than later. There are interventions you can take that are more likely to help you if they’re introduced in the early stages.

“Prevention of the progression of arthritis is related to things that help protect the forces on the joint,” he says. That often means doing what you can to keep the muscles around your joint strong and avoiding high-impact activities that may cause further degradation, according to Dr. Zarin. If you have obesity, weight loss may also help, he adds.

“If it is identified early that there is some degenerative change in a joint, making life choices to help protect the joint can help prevent its progression and prolong healthy function as long as possible,” he says.

What to do if you notice early signs of arthritis

“It’s always a good idea to flag your symptoms to a primary care physician,” says Remy Rabinovich, M.D., orthopaedic surgeon at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital. They will likely order X-rays or blood tests to dig a little deeper.

From there, your provider may refer you to someone who specializes in joints in the area where you're having discomfort. Just don’t sit on things if you’re uncomfortable. “If your symptoms are significant and are interfering with daily life, as opposed to an annoyance, it’s a good signal that you may need to be evaluated by a rheumatologist or other specialist,” Dr. Harvey says.

https://www.prevention.com/health/health-conditions/a74207360/arthritis-early-signs/

Robot Arthur in UK-first for hand arthritis scans

From bbc.co.uk/news

A robot is being used for the first time in the UK to scan patients' hands and wrists to speed up rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis.

Arthur, at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading scans while AI program Diana interprets the images and sends the results to clinicians so patients get a treatment plan the same day.

Professor Antoni Chan, consultant rheumatologist and physician said: "We are delighted to be the first site in the UK to use Arthur. Earlier diagnosis is very important as joint damage can occur if treatment is delayed."

By using the robot, the hospital hopes to increase patients and offer those with rheumatoid arthritis more frequent scans so their treatment can be monitored.

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

James Blythe, chief executive officer at the trust said: "There are seven countries around the world that use this technology and we are the first place in the UK to bring it on stream.

"This investment is about using technology to deliver real improvements for our patients and colleagues.

"It means we can get to patients earlier and make interventions that add years to life and life to years."

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (RBFT) said its rheumatology department in Reading currently carries out 200 hand MRIs a year with demand for their services rising every year.

Prof Chan said: "We can see patients on the day of the clinic they can have the scans and then we can make a decision - this does not replace clinician this helps the decision making and then we can proceed with treatment.

"It really improves the time to diagnose so we don't delay treatment."

The trust said the robot forms part of the wider work taking place across RBFT to invest in technology.

It said other examples included recent investment in new pharmacy dispensing robots, and our work with AI in the to speed up the diagnosis of patients who have had a stroke.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx98z65zj775o