[Potential effects of nutrition including additives on healthy and arthrotic joints. I. Basic dietary constituents]

Owing to the methodological difficulties involved, none of the studies so far published on the influence of diet on human osteo-arthritis has been fully comprehensive. We have therefore compiled a series of experimental observations--including some of our own--in the mouse and other species that have a bearing on this subject. Fats with a high content of saturated fatty acids, such as pork fat, greatly favored the development of spontaneous osteo-arthritis in the mouse, as also did cholesterol. Cottonseed oil and olive oil showed less tendency to do so. The highly unsaturated linoleic acid antagonized the effect of pork fat. Other vegetable oils and also fish oil exerted an anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive action in experimental animals. Foodstuffs rich in carbohydrates only promoted the development of degenerative joint disease in predisposed mice. Hyperglycemia (diabetes mellitus) constitutes a risk factor for the development of osteo-arthritis in humans as well as in mice and rats. A low-protein diet led to dysplasia of the hip joint in the dog; a high-protein diet inhibited the development of osteo-arthritis in the mouse, but promoted inflammation in volunteers. Disturbances of protein metabolism such as alkaptonuria can initiate degenerative processes in the joints of humans and animals.