Can eating better knee pain?
An anti-inflammatory diet intervention for knee osteoarthritis: a feasibility study
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Fat intake increased by 22.5g/day — and it helped.
Most people think 'low-fat' means healthy, but this diet increased healthy fats (MUFAs/PUFAs) from nuts, fish, and olive oil — and pain improved. This flips the script on decades of fat-phobic nutrition advice.
Practical Takeaways
Swap 2 servings of refined carbs (bread, pasta, rice) per day for fatty fish, nuts, or olive oil — and see if your joint pain improves over 6–8 weeks.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Fat intake increased by 22.5g/day — and it helped.
Most people think 'low-fat' means healthy, but this diet increased healthy fats (MUFAs/PUFAs) from nuts, fish, and olive oil — and pain improved. This flips the script on decades of fat-phobic nutrition advice.
Practical Takeaways
Swap 2 servings of refined carbs (bread, pasta, rice) per day for fatty fish, nuts, or olive oil — and see if your joint pain improves over 6–8 weeks.
Publication
Journal
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
Year
2022
Authors
Indiana Cooper, P. Brukner, B. Devlin, A. Reddy, Melanie Fulton, J. Kemp, A. Culvenor
Related Content
Claims (4)
If you're overweight and have painful knees from arthritis, following a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet—like eating more whole foods and omega-3s while cutting back on sugary carbs—over 9 weeks might help reduce your knee pain, make it easier to move around, and improve how you feel overall.
People who are overweight and have knee pain can stick to a healthy eating program done online with little trouble—almost everyone showed up and followed the plan, which means doing nutrition advice over video calls works well for them.
When your diet messes up your gut bacteria, it can cause your whole body to be inflamed, which might make your muscles and joints hurt—but eating anti-inflammatory foods like veggies, fish, and nuts can help calm that down and ease the pain.
People with knee arthritis who tried a special anti-inflammatory diet for 9 weeks through video calls said they loved it—86% wanted to keep doing it and found it easier than doing physical exercises.