Milk and osteoarthritis

A glass of milk a day may delay knee osteoarthritis in women

KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS CURRENTLY has no cure but new research shows that drinking milk every day has been linked to reduced progression of the disease.

Publishing their results in the American College of Rheumatology journal Arthritis Care & Research, researchers say while their findings show that women that regularly drank fat free or low fat milk experienced delayed progression of knee osteoarthritis (OA), those who ate cheese regularly actually experienced an increase in progression of the disease.

They also note that their findings are not applicable to men and that yoghurt did not affect OA progression.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that OA, which is characterized by degeneration of the cartilage and its underlying bone in a joint, is believed to result from “mechanical and molecular events in the affected joint.”

The study authors say milk consumption has been acknowledged as playing an important role in bone health, but until now, its role in the progression of knee OA as been unknown.

Dr. Bing Lu from Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts and colleagues conducted the largest study to date to investigate the effect of dairy consumption on progression of knee OA.

A total of 2,148 individuals with knee OA were used as part of the osteoarthritis initiative. After collecting dietary information at the start of the study, investigators measured joint space between the medial femur and tibia of the knee with X-ray, to assess progression of OA.

Subjects for the study included 888 men and 1260 women, all of whom were followed up at 12, 24, 36, and 48 months, and the team notes that milk consumption was evaluated with a Block Brief Food Frequency Questionnaire

The researchers found that, in women as milk intake was increased (from none to less than 3, 4-6 and more than 7 glasses per week), the joint space width decreased (by 0.38 mm, 0.29 mm and 0.26 mm respectively).

Though obesity has been cited as a risk factor for knee OA the researchers say their results remained, even after adjusting the body mass index.

Additionally, they say there was no association between milk consumption and joint space width decrease in men.

The study showed that women who consumed cheese showed increase progression of OA, Dr. Li said that the high saturated fat acid in cheese could be to blame as recent study reported that increased consumption of saturated fatty acids was associated with an increased incidence of bone marrow lesions which may predict knee OA progression.

(source: Osteopathy Today May 2014)

White finger syndrome

Do you ever suffer from a white finger, fingers or toes?
It could be something called Raynauds syndrome. 

Raynauds syndrome is a condition where the blood vessels temporarily spasm, resticting the blood flow to the area supplied. This results in a white change in the tissues.  It is normally somthing that is very short lived and can be linked with cold temperatures or sometimes stress.  If there is no underlying reason for this phenomenun to occur it is known as 'primary' Raynauds.

The other type of Raynauds is known as 'secondary' and this is when the changes in the blood vessels occur in conjunction with another health condition.  Most of these cases are linked with immune conditions where the body attacks healthy tissue, however occaisonlly when a pateint has a trapped nerve you can get a similar change in the tissues.

There is a condition called thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) where arteries, veins and nerves can become compressed in an area located around the collar bone and 1st rib.  Tight muscles, a problem with the ribs and certain habital postures adopted by people can compress this space and lead to symtptoms.

Because the nerves are compromised with the TOS this can be a trigger for the spasm which in turn leads to Raynauds.  Twice this week in clinic we have seen this phenomenon due to TOS.