Hey everyone!
Last week I went over the article called "Can Diet or Supplements Relieve your Arthritis Aches and Inflammation?" Many interesting things were discussed in class, and we keep coming to the same conclusion that a healthy diet and exercise are key factors in maintaining a healthy body. But how many of us really do exercise regularly? How many of us make sure we are taking in all the nutrients that our body needs? I know I don't. As students, supplements may be quite necessary when we don't have the time (or money) to make sure we're always eating the right food. One of the supplements that has become a hot topic over the years is fish oil. We also discussed fish oil in class last week as being one of the key supplements used to treat symptoms of arthritis.
I found a pretty interesting article that I thought you guys might like to read and discuss about. Since our class has been quite fond of critical articles that make claims such as "surgery may cure diabetes", this one would be a fun read. From everything we've learned and discussed so far, what do you think about the combination of aspirin and fish oil as a 'cure' for arthritis? Do you think the dosage would matter?
I don't think aspirin and fish oil will be a cure for arthritis. I think both are beneficial in their own respects, but to call it a "cure" seems to be too much of a reach. Also, the article is jumping around too much. In the beginning, it says how aspirin and fish oil decreases inflammation. Then, it jumps to how horrible inflammation is and the deleterious effects on the system. All throughout this, it doesn't speak about arthritis. The only part that indicates that it is a cure is the title.
ReplyDeleteAs for your question of whether dosage with matter, I think it would. Let's say that the two combined would help, then the dosage would determine how many resolvin and such would be made.
After reading this however, I worry about the lay people who read it. Because both aspirin and fish oil is an OTC drug, people might self diagnose and self medicate without talking to a physician. Because aspirin is a blood thinner, it might be dangerous for some people to continuously take it without consulting their doctor.
In response to your question, I think that supplements have their place in the diet in combination with a balanced diet and exercise. They can be warranted in certain instances, however, I don't think that they should be relied upon as a sole means to prevent disease or used as a reason not to live a healthy llifestyle.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the article, the logic seems to make sense that the combination of two anti-inflammatory agents such as aspirin and fish oil would have a synergistic effect. I agree that the article was misleading to call this a cure for arthritis, especially since it was focusing on inflammatory diseases in general. Another thing that was misleading was that it seemed to promote this type of therapy for people with an inflammatory lifestyle that have a high fat diet or smoke rather than promoting changes to their lifestyle. The article also made it seem like people are using aspirin as a preventative measure to cancer and strokes rather than a temporary treatment for inflammation.
I also think that dosage would play an important role, especially since the long term use of aspirin has its own risks. Since the article did not mention anything about dosage I would assume that most people would just make this decision themselves without performing any research on appropriate dosage levels. I would also worry about the lay people that read this because the combination of aspirin and fish oil may be dangerous for some people and any possible risks of this treatment were not outlined in the article.
I do believe that an aspirin regimen has its role in terms of reducing the chances for a heart attack, and that fish oil can also be quite beneficial, however, I don’t consider a combination of the two to be a “cure” for arthritis. Despite the fact that both of these supplementations can reduce inflammation, simply using them as a direct treatment of arthritis would most likely prove to be less than what one would imagine. Like April mentioned, the article does provide a valid argument regarding the potential synergy between two anti-inflammatory agents. Unfortunately, this cannot simply be applied to arthritis. There are additional ways to reduce inflammation without the use of anti-inflammatory substances.
ReplyDeleteThis article discusses more about inflammation in general rather than strictly arthritis. Although these supplements may be useful in terms of controlling a moderate level of inflammation, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will directly affect arthritis, which many readers may unfortunately misinterpret. Because aspirin has other effects in addition to reducing inflammation such as the reduction of clotting, misleading the audience to believing that aspirin is the answer to arthritis may prove to be more dangerous than beneficial. Like Bach Ngan said, the fact that these supplements can be attained from over the counter, its risk of being misused is a valid concern.
All in all, I don’t see these supplements being too detrimental if used responsibly, however, I don’t believe that they are a so called “cure” for arthritis.
Arthritis is painful disease; my mother is been suffering from arthritis for past 6 years and it is not just a single disease but it includes hundred joints in body. When my mom find out she had arthritis she was talking supplements and trying to lose weight and get on better diet. One thing that she figured out it was so useful was how some food effected her joint to hurt more when she was eating them more than often.
ReplyDeleteHer doctor recommended that she should eat more anti- inflammatory foods because arthritis is inflammatory disease and avoid Foods like candy, juice, fried foods, rice which trigger the body to set off the inflammatory response. Foods with high sugar could raise the insulin level which it will cause inflammatory response be off and worsen the arthritis pain. Eating more whole grain food is much healthier than white grain, because foods like white rice been refine from brown rice and they have removed the most nutrient thing on them, by removing the bran and germ body started to send more cytokines to fight the inflammation that been cause by refined foods, so again it will worse in the arthritis. Fried foods or oily foods don’t have inflammatory causes but it will increase body fat which it could put more weight on the joints and bones.
I think supplement plus good nutrients and exercise would reduce the pain of the arthritis but dose not cure it.
Quite, honestly I do not think aspirin and fish oil might have a significant impact in reducing arthritis. I definitely think there needs to be more research done in this area before recommending aspirin to patients suffering from arthritis. NSAID's such as aspirin is known to have serious adverse effects in causing GI tract problems and should be taken carefully. I believe diet and exercise along with supplements might have a more long term effect rather than consuming aspirin on a day to day basis. This article is interesting in emphasizing the role of Resolvin, however, this article also fails to mention its mechanism. I believe this puts the patients at more risk for other diseases like ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding that are in most cases irreversible.
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