Rheumatism: Smoking plus salt damages joints

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MunichSmokers should save as much salt as possible when eating. High consumption increases your risk of rheumatoid arthritis.

Studies on animal models and human cells had already provided indications that high salt consumption could increase the risk of autoimmune diseases in general. This also includes rheumatoid arthritis.

But the analysis of a large Swedish long-term study did not initially confirm the hypothesis. It was only when the researchers led by Björn Sunderström from the University of Umea included the other lifestyles of the participants that they found out that a lot of salt, at least in combination with cigarettes, is bad for the joints.

Doubled the risk of rheumatism

Specifically, the analysis showed that high salt consumption actually doubled the risk of smokers to develop rheumatism. The researchers calculated that more than half of the arthritis risk in smokers was due to excessive salt consumption. The researchers cannot yet say which biological mechanisms are behind the phenomenon.

"We suspect, however, that salt increases the effects of smoking on the risk of arthritis," Sunderström told In any case, a salt-reduced diet seems to be particularly worthwhile for smokers: for smokers who consumed particularly little salt, the risk of inflammatory joint problems was not increased.

Salt alone does not seem to be of concern - at least for the joints: for participants who ate high-salt but did not smoke, the risk of arthritis did not increase. However, a lot of salt in food increases blood pressure - and this increases the risk of atherosclerosis and stroke, among other things.

The researchers used data from 386 rheumatism patients who, along with many others, had taken part in a large Swedish long-term study (Västerbotten Intervention Program) as a basis. On average, the patients had given information on their lifestyle and especially their diet 7.7 years before the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. 1886 participants in the study who had not developed rheumatism acted as the control group.

Painful inflammation of the joints

In rheumatoid arthritis, the joints become painfully inflamed due to a malfunction of the immune system. The disease cannot be cured, but medication can contain it. In Germany around 800,000 people suffer from rheumatoid arthritis - that corresponds to around one percent of the population.

Source: Björn Sundström et al: Interaction between dietary sodium and smoking increases the risk for rheumatoid arthritis: results from a nested case control study ’; Rheumatology, doi: 10.1093 / rheumatology / keu330

Tags:  laboratory values prevention Menstruation