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Rheumatoid Arthritis on the Rise in Women

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis is on the rise among women in the U.S. Cases rose 2.5 percent between 1995 and 2007, even as they fell among men.

Rheumatoid arthritis occurs when your body's immune system attacks its own joints. This causes pain and swelling.

According to BBC News:

"Previous studies have found a link between cigarette smoking and rheumatoid arthritis. Vitamin D deficiency has also been associated with the development of the condition."

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Based on the extrapolated numbers from this study, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) now affects 1.5 million Americans. The majority of them are women, and the prevalence in women appears to be rising.

According to this latest study, published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism, the number of diagnosed RA cases rose 2.5 percent between 1995 and 2007, and now affect just over 53 women per 100,000, and nearly 28 men per 100,000.

These statistics reflect a sudden increase in RA for women, whereas the incidence in men actually fell by 0.5 percent within the same timeframe.

As with any inflammatory disease, it's important to understand what might cause or exacerbate chronic inflammation in your body, because that's the key to avoiding the problem it in the first place.

Rheumatoid Arthritis – When Your Body Mistakes Itself as the Enemy

Whereas osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease, primarily caused by "wear-and-tear" on your joints, rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that activates your immune system to attack your joints, causing them to break down.

It tends to be bilateral and symmetrical, meaning it affects both sides of your body to a more or less equal degree. It also tends to affect your middle joints, especially your hands and fingers, which causes the joint deformities that are a hallmark of this disease.

RA can be both crippling and lethal, so it's definitely not something you should ignore.


Toxins that May Trigger RA

Toxic environmental factors that can trigger rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases include:

  • Certain medications, such as birth control pills
  • Second-hand smoke
  • Food chemicals
  • Air pollution
  • Jet fuel fumes
  • Chemicals in personal care products such as lipstick and hairspray

Most likely, you're exposed to countless substances that could trigger this illness on a daily basis. For one person, it could be lipstick; for another it could be living near an airport, or eating chemicals in processed food

Narrowing it down to a list of chemicals where there's a proven direct cause and effect would be nearly impossible, considering the tens of thousands of chemicals on the market and all the individual sensitivities and predispositions.

This underscores the importance of living your life as purely as possible, avoiding as many toxic chemical exposures as you can on a daily basis, no matter where you are. You can read more about how to avoid some of the most common environmental toxins here.

In addition to avoiding toxins, integrating a few simple lifestyle changes can dramatically lower your risk of developing RA as well.

Emotional Health Matters – Especially when it Comes to Rheumatoid Arthritis



In some cases, RA appears to be caused by an infection, and it is my experience that this infection is usually acquired when you have a stressful event that causes a disruption in your bioelectrical circuits, which then leads to an impairment in your immune system.


Therefore, it's very important to have an effective tool to address these underlying emotional traumas. In my clinic, the most common form of treatment used is called the Meridian Tapping Technique/Emotional Freedom Technique (MTT/EFT).


The Importance of Vitamin D

As mentioned in the BBC News article above, vitamin D deficiency is also associated with the development of RA. Vitamin D is intricately tied to the functioning of your immune system, so this makes perfect sense. And yes, in the thousands of RA patients I saw, vitamin D deficiency was more the norm than the exception.

Results from the Iowa Women's Health Study, published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism in 2004, found that vitamin D intake is inversely associated with rheumatoid arthritis. The results showed that postmenopausal women who consumed at least 400 IU of supplemental vitamin D daily had a 34 percent reduction of risk, and that's just taking a measly 400 IU's!

More recent research indicates most people need FAR more vitamin D than that. Based on the available data, the current recommendation by most experts is 35 units per pound per day, or 5,000-10,000 IUs for most adults.

In my opinion it is virtually criminal malpractice to treat a person with RA and not regularly monitor their vitamin D levels to confirm that they are in a therapeutic range of 50-70 ng/ml.

Your Diet -- Another Key Component Against RA and Other Autoimmune Diseases

As I mentioned earlier, the treatment protocol I use for rheumatoid arthritis has helped thousands of RA patients go into remission, and one of the key factors that dramatically improved the response rate to my protocol was the dietary modification.


Your unique biochemistry and genetics influence the ratio of fat, protein and carbohydrates your body needs to thrive, and eating for your nutritional type ensures that you get the optimal macronutrient ratio out of your diet.

There are some general dietary principles, however, that seem to hold true for ALL nutritional types and these include:

  • Eliminating sugar and most grains
  • Eating your food as close to raw as possible


Drug-Free Pain Relief

As most of you may know by now, sometimes taking supplements is as bad as taking "drugs," in the sense that many of them are temporary band-aids that do not address the underlying cause. However, herbal- and other natural supplements are definitely FAR safer than most drugs, so particularly for pain relief, they're clearly a safer option.

For the treatment of RA, turmeric in particular has been shown to be effective against both acute and chronic pain. In experiments on rats, turmeric appeared to block inflammatory pathways associated with rheumatoid arthritis.



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