Can a gluten-free diet help ease rheumatoid arthritis symptoms?

A gluten-free diet can sometimes help manage rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms. In this video, Ashley Koff, RD, explains how limiting processed foods may also help.

Transcript

00:00

But what will be 100% effective is to make sure that we're reducing all of the really processed food, whether they have gluten or they don't.

00:07

And then my recommendation is to test out a gluten-free diet. [SOFT MUSIC]

00:23

I get asked a lot of questions about a gluten-free diet, and one of them is what if I have rheumatoid arthritis? Do I have to follow a gluten-free diet?

00:31

And the reality is is that it may not be effective for everyone, but what will be 100% effective is to make sure

00:37

that we're reducing all of the really processed food, whether they have gluten or they don't. And then my recommendation is to test out

00:44

a gluten-free diet, a quality gluten-free diet, which means that your diet should be primarily based in things that naturally don't have gluten.

00:52

So that means all of my fruits and vegetables. That means my high quality plant proteins and some animal

00:58

proteins. And it also means instead of using sauces which may have gluten in it, instead if you use spices,

01:04

especially ones that are anti-inflammatory like your ginger or your turmeric or cinnamon, that's going to be really helpful. So yes, you should definitely try out a gluten-free diet,

01:13

but make sure that it's a quality gluten-free diet. And some people with RA might find that a little bit of gluten, if it's from a quality source,

01:20

could also work OK for them. [AUDIO LOGO]