EULAR Review of Lifestyle Improvements for Rheumatic Patients Save

A EULAR taskforce has evaluated the effect of lifestyle behaviors in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) and concluded that there is moderate evidence for a small benefit for certain dietary components, but overall, high-level evidence regarding dietary exposures on outcomes in RMDs is lacking.

Much of the existing literature is unclear whether dietary factors influence RMD-specific outcomes.

Their analysis included 24 systematic reviews and 150 original articles on 7 RMDs (osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, axial spondyloarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, systemic sclerosis and gout).

While any dietary exposures have been studied (n=83), the majority of studies addressed people with OA and RA.  Few studies of dietary exposures were well conducted studies (eg, OA: vitamin D, chondroitin, glucosamine; RA: omega-3) showing moderate evidence of small effects on disease progression.

There is only moderate evidence for a small benefit for certain dietary components and there is little evidence suggesting dietary factors can make large differences in RMD outcomes. More high-quality research is needed on the effects of dietary supplements on rheumatologic diseases.