A recent study by the researchers from University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and Tufts University in Boston, MA has revealed that including more fibre in your diet may help in reducing the risk of painful osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease.
According to reports, almost 18 percent women and 10 percent men aged 60 and above worldwide suffer from osteoarthritis.
The researchers carried out two separate studies in this research. They conducted Framingham Offspring Osteoarthritis with 1,268 participants and Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) including a total of 4,796 participants.
The scientists used a food frequency questionnaire to conduct this study. They checked and analysed fibre consumption of the participants through this process. The researchers also calculated partakers' symptomatic osteoarthritis as well incident radiographic osteoarthritis.
The participants were examined for a span of nine years for the Framingham study and for a period of 48 months for the OAI study. The participants had to include 19 grams of fibre in their diet daily in the Framingham study and an average of 15 grams of fibre in the OAI.
The statistics revealed that greater consumption of fibre aided in depleting the risk of developing osteoarthritis. In case of the Framingham study, participants who consumed more fibre were at 60 percent lesser risk of OA in comparison to those who had the least fibre consumption. On the other hand in the IOA study, participants who had more fibre were at 30 percent lesser danger of osteoarthritis.
Apart from reducing osteoarthritis risk, fibre also helps in enhancing bowel movement, weight management and lowering blood cholesterol.
