The Mediterranean Diet and Arthritis

Arthritis is an umbrella term for about a hundred rheumatic diseases and conditions affecting the musculoskeletal system. Arthritis causes not only inflammation and damage to joints, with subsequent bone erosion, severe pain, and disability, but can also cause damage to other organs of the body, leading to increased mortality.Although the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of joint diseases are for the most part unknown, a number of nutrient and non-nutrient dietary components have been shown to affect the inflammatory process and, in particular, to influence clinical disease progression. This chapter will focus on the benefit of the Mediterranean diet (MD) on arthritis patients. The antinflammatory MD pattern should be considered a valuable support to pharmacological treatment in arthritis. New, large-scale trials are warranted to confirm precedent findings and to enhance our knowledge of the possible benefits of dietary interventions in arthritis.