“An investigation into the use of a Paleolithic diet by people with rheumatoid arthritis”

In this qualitative study, I interviewed 10 people with RA who had been on a paleo diet for at least 6 months, all participants attributed the paleo diet to reducing RA symptoms and disease markers like antibodies and inflammation. (All these people went from severe pain to none or very little using the paleo diet, and some came completely off medications)

The interviews set out to find out a number of things: find out what motivated people to change to a paleo diet, what challenges they encountered changing to the diet and maintaining it, and how they managed those challenges. Secondly, I asked them to describe the diet they consumed, and what they eat and don’t eat with respect to the perceived effect food has on RA symptoms.

A further part of the research project involved a review of studies where a diet was used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. I was surprised at the number of studies and case studies documented, all up they give an interesting picture as to the effectiveness of diet for this disease.

I’m writing about my research in a series of blog posts,  as well as giving an overview of some of the diet studies.