Diet and Folk Medicines for Rheumatic Diseases

ABSTRACT

Notwithstanding recent advances in the field of treatment of rheumatic diseases, patients still have a significant interest in complementary and alternative medicine for various reasons. The purpose of this review is to investigate the effect of certain dietary components or folk medicines on the pathogenesis or outcome of rheumatic diseases. The data used in the study were mainly selected from the references searched by MEDLINE. Among the variety of dietary components and folk medicines investigated, omega-3 fatty acid, alcohol, and vitamin D showed negative correlation with the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Specifically, omega-3 fatty acids appeared to be somewhat helpful for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Although some of the items showed a positive effect through this study, it failed to establish definitive evidence for the overall effect of diet and folk medicines in rheumatic diseases. In the future, further understanding of mechanisms and clinical utility should be acquired through numerous systematic and scientific research studies.