Osteoarthritis can be painful in any joint, but especially a knee joint. It can cause joint swelling and stiffness and making walking uncomfortable. Among people over 60, knee osteoarthritis affects about 13% of women and 10% of men. For those over 70, knee osteoarthritis statistics are even worse. According to MedicalNewsToday.com, about 40% of seniors over 70 experience pain from knee osteoarthritis. Some seniors opt for knee replacement surgery, while others try stem cell therapy, nonsteroidal drugs or pain pills.
Studying the effects of carbs on osteoarthritis
Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham led a randomized controlled study looking at a low-fat diet vs. a low-carb diet to see if either would help knee pain associated with osteoarthritis.
The team had adults between ages 65 and 75 (all of whom had knee osteoarthritis) follow one of three diets: a low-carb diet a low-fat diet or a standard meal plan for 12 weeks.
At the start of the intervention, they measured the volunteers’ serum blood levels for oxidative stress—a marker of biological aging. The measurement looks at the chemical imbalance between antioxidants and free radical production.
Every three weeks, the researchers determined the participants’ pain associated with daily tasks. They also analyzed the volunteers’ quality of life, depression levels and self-reported pain.
At the end of the intervention, the team measured the participants’ serum blood levels again.
The results: Low-carb diets win
At the end of the intervention, the researchers noted that the low-carb diet had:
• reduced function pain levels
• reduced levels of self-reported pain
• decreased oxidative stress
• decreased levels of adipokine leptin (a hormone that affects metabolic functions)
“Diet will never ‘cure’ pain, but our work suggests it can reduce it to the point where it does not interfere with daily activities to a high degree,” explains lead researcher Robert Sorge, Ph.D., director of the PAIN Collective in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Psychology. “Many medications for pain cause a host of side effects that may require other drugs to reduce. The beneficial side effects of our diet may be things such as reduced risk for heart disease, diabetes and weight loss—something many drugs cannot claim.”
