Obesity
Obesity is considered by authorities to be particularly significant in the progression of an arthritic disorder. In his book Arthritis Can Be Cured, Dr Aschner devotes a chapter to this subject. It is not unreasonable to assume that obesity can be an adverse influence in arthritic complaints. In general, the obese person would place more strain on his joints, more effort on muscles, and would probably exercise less. These would all seem to be aggravating factors. Dr Aschner goes further than this, however, and suggests that the presence of a surplus of waste products in an overweight person can actually cause arthritis. He suggests that a clinically controlled reducing therapy, involving diet, is particularly successful in effecting relief of symptoms. Although it is well known that to be overweight is not good for general health, the cause of the condition is not always that of over indulgence. Nor need it be due to illness. Many overweight people are so because of glandular malfunctions, and in fact they may eat very little. Whether a reducing diet would have any helpful effect in such cases or not is open to doubt.

Gouty arthritis and shellfish
Just as a final word on this topic, it is generally accepted that people with gouty arthritis should not eat shellfish. The reason for this is that shellfish contain a fairly high level of purine nitrogen in their biochemical make-up and purine nitrogen is a precursor (i.e., starting point) for uric acid. Thus, theoretically, the eating of shellfish by people with gout; would seem to be tempting fate. There has been some research done to see if deliberate changes in uric acid compound levels, in the system actually do influence attacks of gout. What can be said is that there are many people who are gout sufferers and can eat shellfish without any adverse effects at all. There are others, however, who, if they eat shellfish, can almost guarantee that an attack will follow the meal.

*7/48/5*