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Natalie
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Osteoarthritis of the knee joint is a disease that requires constant adjustment of the diet. If the pathology is caused by metabolic disorders, chondrocalcinates and uric acid crystals accumulate in the joint cavity.
To control them, remove them and stop their progression, you should control the consumption of vegetable products, especially tomatoes. As strange as it may sound, tomatoes and joints are closely related.
Patients with arthrosis believe that this vegetable increases pain. Therefore, when you completely abandon the product, your health improves. What is actually happening, how do experts comment on this topic, is it possible to eat tomatoes, how harmful or beneficial are tomatoes for joints, how to use them correctly - we will consider all these questions in this article.
- Is it possible to eat tomatoes with arthrosis?
- The effect of tomatoes on joints
- Recommendations for use for joint diseases
- Which tomatoes are better - fresh, canned or heat-treated?
Tomato – a guest from overseas
There is an opinion that a garden plant such as a tomato causes increased pain in people suffering from joint pathologies. This information is confirmed by numerous videos on the Internet, where the topic is raised: benefits and harms of tomatoes for joints.
The homeland of tomatoes is South America. Columbus introduced them to Europe, where they were used for a long time as ornamental shrubs. They were delivered to Russia by order of Tsarina Catherine. However, the Russian nobility did not recognize them for a long time because of the bitter taste characteristic of all nightshade crops.
Thanks to the persistence of Russian agronomists, we managed to learn how to grow them as seedlings and bring them to maturity. In the second half of the 20th century, greenhouse cultivation of this southern vegetable began, and it became a welcome guest on the table in every family. However, people suffering from diseases of the musculoskeletal system began to note the harm of tomatoes for sore joints.
Composition and benefits
Tomato is a low-calorie product that contains natural sugars - glucose and fructose. Tomatoes are rich in vitamins C and E; the vegetable’s composition is also dominated by pectin, folic acid, fiber and a large amount of B vitamins. The garden plant contains organic acids and the following micro- and macroelements:
- calcium;
- starch;
- iron;
- sulfur;
- silicon;
- magnesium;
- chlorine.
The vegetable helps improve the functioning of the digestive system.
The antioxidant is also found in tomatoes - provitamin A-carotenoid. Tomatoes lower blood pressure, improve the functioning of the digestive system and prevent cancer pathologies. The product is also useful for patients with a tendency to varicose veins and thrombosis. With proper and regular consumption of tomatoes, it will be possible to prevent intestinal obstruction and improve your overall condition. However, despite the benefits of the vegetable, it can also cause harm.
Thus, there is a deterioration in the condition of people with diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
Beneficial features
Tomatoes are known for their delicate taste, juiciness, and pleasant aroma. They have exceptionally great nutritional and medicinal value. They contain substances beneficial to human health such as pectin, folic acid, starch, and protein. They contain small amounts of oxalic, tartaric, and succinic acids, and citric and malic acids are present in soluble form.
Among the mineral substances they contain compounds of potassium, magnesium, sodium with a small amount of calcium. Tomatoes are rich in cobalt, iron, zinc, contain iodine, vitamins of groups BB, C, K, PP. It seems that here she is - a storehouse of vitamins, eat, get benefits and don’t get sick. The vegetable helps lower blood pressure, fight intestinal obstruction, and prevent cancer. But I want to understand whether tomatoes are harmful to joints.
Is it possible to eat tomatoes with arthrosis?
Tomato is the main vegetable in all cuisines of the world . It would be strange if it did not have a lot of useful properties. It contains:
- vitamins A, PP, C, E, K, H, group B;
- micro- and macroelements molybdenum, fluorine, selenium, iodine, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, potassium, chlorine,
- calcium, sulfur, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium;
- organic acids - citric, oxalic, malic.
In terms of ascorbic acid content, tomato successfully competes with citrus fruits. This vitamin is responsible for the synthesis of collagen, the main component of cartilage tissue . Vitamin PP is necessary for blocking interleukins and pain relief.
Vitamin E improves joint mobility. Selenium activates the absorption of sulfur, necessary for the synthesis of connective tissue. Manganese helps improve the nutrition of intervertebral cartilage and discs.
This entire preamble is a good presentation of tomato products. But how much does it help with arthrosis? After all, doctors are afraid that vegetables with a high acid content have a negative impact on the condition of the joints.
For example, oxalic acid accumulates in the body and leads to severe joint pain. This is due to the fact that the substance penetrates the intestines and disrupts the digestion process and removes oxalates. The body becomes acidified, and this increases inflammation processes and leads to damage to connective tissue. This effect is especially noticeable on the legs and arms.
Oxalic acid also irritates nerve tissue, which provokes pain.
The most dangerous thing is to combine vegetables containing oxalic acid and dairy products, fresh bread, meat and seafood.
In general, with arthrosis, it is recommended to use caution (or not eat at all) vegetables of the nightshade family - potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes. They contain purine compounds that accumulate uric acid salts in the joints.
Harm of tomatoes for arthritis and joint arthrosis
The characteristic distinguishing diseases of arthritis is inflammation of the joints, causing severe pain, which intensifies with increasing physical stress on the diseased organ. The inflammatory process affects cartilage tissue, destroying it. Osteoarthritis causes degeneration of the affected joint up to its destruction.
If you look at photos of diseased joints, many of which can be seen on the Internet, you can understand how the inflammatory process spreads. These diseases especially often affect the knees and hip joints, which experience great physical stress when walking. It is important to pay attention to the symptoms that appear in time, and to prevent the separation of the cartilage tissue and exposure of the bone.
When treating diseased joints, proper nutrition plays a major role. Doctors urge you to eat right, following a diet with foods that can calm the inflammatory process, positively influence the disease, and prevent the manifestation of gonarthrosis. The menu should be enriched with flaxseed oil, fish, vegetables, and fruits. But are all vegetables healthy? It's time to find out how tomatoes affect joints.
You may be interested in reading the article “Are tomatoes good or bad for the liver?” Read here...
Therapeutic diet for arthritis: what you can eat and what you can’t
Nutrition must be balanced so that, despite all the necessary restrictions, the body receives the nutrients it needs. If you are overweight, diet No. 8 is indicated; for rheumatoid arthritis, table No. 10P is prescribed. The diet consists of boiled and baked dishes without salt. Meals should be fractional, the frequency should be at least 6 times a day (in small portions). For patients with gouty arthritis, table No. 6.2 is recommended. The menu provides for restriction of protein products in the diet, strict calorie tracking, and compliance with the drinking regime.
Since deforming arthrosis causes thinning of cartilage tissue and increased friction of articular surfaces, it is important to consume more foods that nourish connective fibers and prevent their destruction.
The diet must contain microelements and vitamins B, F, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium. Recommended are seafood, butter, hard cheeses, cottage cheese, fermented milk products, herring, citrus fruits, and jelly. The principle of the diet is based on reducing the calorie content of dishes, avoiding fast carbohydrates, limiting the amount of salt and other irritating foods.
What do tomatoes contain that is harmful to joints?
The acids that tomatoes are rich in include oxalic acid. Its use is beneficial for a person who does not have inflammatory diseases. But eating foods high in it is not advisable for people suffering from arthritis or arthrosis. Acid, accumulating in the body, can cause severe joint pain. It has the ability to turn into crystals of insoluble salts, which accumulate in the kidneys, the connecting parts of the skeletal bones.
Tomatoes are bright representatives of the nightshade family, which contain the alkaloid solanine. It is known from history that the ancient Romans prepared poisons from nightshades to poison their enemies. In the human body, solanine causes joint pain, promotes headaches, insomnia, nervousness, and cardiac arrhythmia. Solanine substances cause the intestines to take calcium from food.
In this way, the body accumulates calcium, which is deposited in the kidneys, skin, joints, cartilage, and soft tissues. Such unplanned accumulation of high calcium levels in the body leads to arthritis, bone spurs, and coronary artery disease.
Therefore, people who have been diagnosed with diseases of the musculoskeletal system should know that diseased joints and tomatoes are incompatible. It is no coincidence that there are recommendations to exclude tomatoes from the diet of such patients.
Healthy food
For joint diseases, experts recommend dishes made from whole grain cereals - rice, buckwheat, millet, pearl barley. For breakfast, it is useful to prepare any of the porridges in water, with the addition of vegetable oil. Protein products include lean chicken, turkey, rabbit, veal, and river fish within 150 g per day. The first courses should be prepared with vegetable broth, since strong broths are contraindicated for arthritis.
The diet of patients with arthritis and arthrosis is fundamentally different: with arthrosis, it is impossible to reduce the amount of protein in the diet, but meat and dairy products must be dietary: veal, turkey, boiled rabbit.
Sources of essential vitamins (in particular, essential group B) can be honey, legumes, offal, nuts, eggs, peas, lentils, potatoes.
There are also restrictions for baked goods: choose dark varieties of bread, with bran, give preference to yesterday’s baked goods. Low-fat fermented milk products without artificial additives are useful for normal intestinal function.
Eggs (especially whites) can be eaten 2 times a week, preferably boiled. A significant portion of the portion should be a salad of fresh vegetables with vegetable oil. You can bake them in foil with meat or fish.
Meals should be fractional, it is better to divide the daily norm into 5-6 meals, while it is advisable to have dinner 3 hours before going to bed.
What can you drink
Drinking regimen is an essential part of a therapeutic diet for arthritis. You should drink at least one and a half liters of purified still water per day. Tea made from rose hips and medicinal herbs is beneficial for joints. You can supplement your diet with cranberry juice, dried fruit compote, apple, pomegranate, cherry or peach juice.
Drinking regimen is an essential part of the therapeutic diet for arthritis
So is it or is it not?
If, after all, the patient loves tomatoes so much that he cannot refuse them, then, as always, there are exceptions to any rule that reveal the peculiarities of consuming this vegetable:
- Tomatoes should not be eaten at the same time as scrambled eggs, meat, or seafood. This combination leads to an increase in the pH of gastric juice, which inflames the gastrointestinal tract
- You should avoid combining the consumption of tomatoes with fresh bread
- Tomato juice should not be washed down with food. It can only be used between meals and is considered a separate meal.
- You should eat no more than 1 piece. tomatoes per day, while carefully monitoring your health
If there is no significant impact on the course of the disease, then occasionally a patient with arthritis or arthrosis can allow himself to indulge in his favorite, albeit unhealthy, vegetable.
These are all just tips, although very useful. And to decide whether it is possible to eat tomatoes with arthrosis, everyone must decide for themselves, based on their well-being and the recommendations of the treating doctor.
If your health worsens, you should show willpower and strictly follow the doctor’s advice, because even the best specialist will not be able to cure the disease if the patient does not make an effort and help himself.
And to help give up tomatoes, the idea that many centuries ago our ancestors lived without knowing about the existence of tomatoes, and did not consider themselves hungry and deprived, can help.
List of prohibited foods for joint inflammation
If joint pathologies are caused by metabolic disorders, uric acid crystals and chondrocalcifications accumulate in their cavities. To stop destructive changes, you should avoid preservatives, flavor enhancers, and trans fats. For any type of arthritis, the following products are contraindicated:
- baked goods made from white flour (including bread);
- alcohol of all types;
- fatty meats such as pork, duck, lamb;
- meat by-products and strong broths;
- egg yolk;
- honey and all confectionery products;
- pasta made from premium flour;
- hot spices and sauces;
- smoked meats, fatty and fried foods;
- fast food and convenience foods;
- gastronomic delicacies (sausage, cheese, canned meat and fish);
- cereals (millet, oats, corn);
- cabbage, sorrel, onion and garlic, legumes;
- strong coffee and tea;
- fish and mushrooms.
Products from this list increase the load on the gastrointestinal tract and contribute to weight gain. To reduce the load on joints, the caloric content of the daily diet should not exceed 2200 kcal. A third of each serving should be plant foods, the salt limit should be up to 3 g per day (about half a teaspoon) . There should be no simple (“fast”) carbohydrates such as candy or sugar in the diet; complex carbohydrates in the form of cereal porridges are best consumed in the first half of the day. At the first stage of treatment, you are allowed to eat up to 20 g of carbohydrates per day. A low-calorie diet will help reduce stress on the lower limbs.
