Vegan Diet and Rheumatoid Arthritis: Exploring Relief with Uncooked, Lactobacilli-Rich Foods

Summary of “Uncooked, Lactobacilli-Rich, Vegan Food and Rheumatoid Arthritis” by M.T. Nenonen, T.A. Helve, A.-L. Rauma, and O.O. Hänninen

Researchers wanted to study if an extreme vegan diet with no cooking or processing (“living food”) could help improve rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms. Some patients had reported this diet helped them.

The diet was:

- Vegan (no meat, dairy)

- Uncooked

- No added salt or oil

- High in fiber

- Soaked, sprouted, blended or fermented foods

43 RA patients were split into 2 groups:

- Diet group: Ate the vegan “living food” diet

- Control group: stuck with regular diet

Results:

- Diet group lost 9% weight, controls gained 1%

- Diet group had increased energy, iron and zinc intake

- Diet group had higher lactobacilli counts

- Diet group had improved subjective RA symptoms during study

- Return to regular diet brought symptoms back

- Half of diet group had digestion issues from diet

Objective RA measures:

- No major difference between groups

- A disease activity score improved more in diet drink consumers

- An activity index also showed improvement in the diet group

Subjective Impression:

- Diet helped subjective RA symptoms

- But no major objective improvements

Some components of the diet may have contributed to benefits:

- Fermented wheat drink

- Wheat grass drink

- High fiber

- Change in gut bacteria

So the extreme vegan diet helped patients feel better about RA symptoms. But it did not greatly improve objective disease measures. Some parts of the diet like fermented drinks and fiber may have been beneficial. Additional study is needed on if this diet or its components could really help treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Nenonen MT, Helve TA, Rauma AL, Hänninen OO. Uncooked, lactobacilli-rich, vegan food and rheumatoid arthritis. Br J Rheumatol. 1998 Mar;37(3):274-81. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/37.3.274. PMID: 9566667.