Obesity once again plays a role in the prevalence of this disease, and vegetarians in general are advantaged over non-vegetarians in that they tend to have lower body masses. Many claims have been made that vegetarian diets will cure arthritis, but these claims could not be readily substantiated.28 It is known that most patients with rheumatoid arthritis benefit from a short period of fasting, but in most cases there is a relapse as soon as food is reintroduced. However, a recent study showed that a vegan diet, which also excluded citrus fruit, salt, refined sugar, strong spices, tea, coffee and alcohol substantially reduced the negative symptoms of this debilitating disease, and this improvement was maintained even if the patients were gradually reintroduced to dairy products.66 The change from an omnivorous to a vegetarian diet causes a considerable change in the fatty-acid profile of the serum phospholipids,67 and these changes can stimulate the production of prostaglandins and leukotrines, which can counteract inflammatory activity.
At this point a word of admonition might be in order. The vegetarian life-style is not to be regarded as an instant cure for all the ills that prevail in industrialized societies. Unfortunately, some over-enthusiastic groups have made such claims in the past, and the impression is created that the vegetarian lifestyle is not only an alternative lifestyle, but a substitute for commonly accepted medical norms. Nevertheless, from the evidence it is clear that the vegetarian lifestyle offers a healthy, satisfying alternative to the commonly accepted diet of the industrialized world. Moreover, a number of studies have shown that properly conducted vegetarian diets, including vegan diets, fare well when they are compared in terms of their adequacy of nutrients, to non-vegetarian diets.68 What is more, these diets were found to be exemplary and, more in line with dietary recommendations than were diets of omnivores.
In closing it is important to remember that variety should be the watchword in any vegetarian diet, and if the simple rules are adhered to then one can adopt this lifestyle with complete peace of mind.