sugars and salts

Question
QUESTION: I am a 58 year old male in reasonably good health. I exercise regularly and try to eat healthy. I am an avid golfer and I have been suffering from chronic stiffness in my wrists and thumbs these past few years. My family doctor tells me that I have some minor signs of arthritis.
I am trying to reduce this affliction by good nutrition but I am confused about the types of food that will aggravate my affliction. Some people tell me that salt is the culprit while others say that it is sugar.
I would really appreciate your expert opinion in this matter.
Ron
ANSWER: Ron,

Arthritis is not something easily reversible but there are some general things you can do to try and minimize it.

Most importantly, with respect to foods, is to try and eat a low-inflammatory diet. This means foods that will not over activate the immune system and not cause too much oxidative stress. These are complex issues that I discuss in chapter one of my recent book, Brain Fitness, but I can briefly summarize here.

First, The western diet has become very 'inflammatory'. We eat a lot of foods that cause low-grade, subclinical inflammation. One of the major culprits today is the imbalance between omega-3 and omega-6 fats. Both are required, but in equal ratios. Today we eat a lot of omega-6s (from corn oils, soy bean oils and other popular vegetable oils in most of our foods) and very little omega-3s (from fish, some nuts and flax seed oils). Omega-6s activate immune function while omega-3s tune it down - so we are all eating inflammatory diets. Try to minimize these vegetable oils and increase your intake of omega-3 sources.

Second, sugars can be indirectly bad for inflammation because the spike blood sugar - which cranks up energy production - which leads to 'oxidative stress'. Think of it as kind of a rusting of your cells. Decreasing your sugar intake, eating low glycemic foods (another concept I cover in my book) and taking a high quality multivitamin (which acts as an antioxidant) will all help.

Finally, psychological stress can boost inflammation as well. Hopefully you have found ways, including golf, to minimize your stress levels. This keeps certain hormones in your body under check and helps regulate a smooth running immune system.

Hope this helps.

If you are interested, you can check out my book at http://www.thebraincode.com/book.html. It is written from a perspective of parents helping their kids but all the issues apply to adults as well.

Good luck with your game.

Simon

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: You mentioned that some nuts are good sources of omega-3s. Could you specify which ones.
Thank you for your quick reply to my query.
Ron

Answer
Yes, walnuts and flax seed are the highest in omega-3s. A high quality fish oil supplement is also a good source. If you go with fish oil make sure that you get 'molecularly distilled' to ensure that all of the mercury and PCBs have been purified out - I personally take these.

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