Foods to Avoid that Exacerbate Arthritis

Arthritis is a disease of inflammation in the joints. The body's immune system kicks into overdrive, and you are left with red, swollen, and painful joints. Having arthritis means that the inflammation comes, and it stays. The most effective way to treat arthritis is with anything that fights inflammation. This includes an anti-inflammatory diet that excludes foods that exacerbate the symptoms of arthritis.

Overweight

Being overweight puts excess stress on your joints. It also increases the risk of wear and tear on the weaker sections of your body. Body fat is not an inert mass. It is metabolically active, which means that it can produce hormones and chemicals. This production can aggravate arthritis. The avoidance of excess calories and the loss of extra weight help to lower inflammation levels in the body and decrease symptoms of arthritis.

Saturated Fats

Saturated fats are one food source that exacerbates arthritis. This fat is normally found in animal products. These include beef, pork, poultry skin, ice cream, butter, whole milk, cheese, bacon, bologna, salami, pepperoni and beef sausage. Saturated fats are also found in palm oil and palm kernel oil. These are ingredients that are added to certain foods. Check the nutrition labels on crackers, cookies, nondairy creamers and packaged baked goods for this fat.

Trans Fats

Trans fats are man-made fats that were designed to give baked goods extra life on the store shelves. It is a vegetable oil with hydrogen molecules forced into its make-up. It basically turns liquid oil into a solid. This is dangerous to the human body and a main cause of inflammation in the body. Food labels are now required to list trans fats.

Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fats

There are two types of polyunsaturated fats. One is the omega-3, which is the good kind of fat. This is the oil found in fish. Omega-6 is considered a bad type of fat. In high doses it makes arthritis worse. Omega-6 is found in mayonnaise, corn oil, cotton-seed oil, safflower oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil.

Carbohydrates

Certain carbohydrates increase cytokine and other inflammatory-compound production. These foods are sugary products, white-flour baked goods, white rice, bread, crackers and other refined carbohydrates. It is best to limit the intake of these foods. High consumption of these foods increases arthritis pain.