The Mediterranean Diet May Easy the Pain Caused By Obesity

This story first appeared in MedicineNet.com and explains a bit why overweight people suffer with pain. Yes, the extra weight you carry around will put stress on your joints, wearing out the cushion between bones and allowing them to rub, but that's not your only problem. Your poor diet can also be causing pain. The Mediterranean style of eating, the way the Mediterranean people eat, can be a healthier diet and will give the foods you need to reduce your pain and help you lose weight.  So what does this diet look like?
People who are overweight and plagued by chronic pain may find relief in a Mediterranean diet, new research suggests.
The study of 98 men and women between the ages of 20 and 78 builds on growing evidence that a diet heavy on fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans provide significant health benefits. It also sheds new light on why eating these foods might reduce pain associated with obesity.
Because obese people with chronic pain usually also have a high degree of inflammation, lead researcher Charles Emery suspects the foods' anti-inflammatory properties might explain the reduced pain levels.
"Although the relationship of body fat and pain has been well-documented in prior studies, the mechanism is not known," said Emery, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University.
"One possibility is the stress of body weight on joints. A second possible mechanism is via inflammatory factors in the bloodstream, because both body fat and pain are known to be associated with elevated inflammation," he said.
Slightly more than 70 percent of American adults are overweight, with 38 percent considered obese (at least 30 pounds overweight), according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study done found that no matter what you weighed, those who ate more fish and plant-based proteins such as nuts and beans had less pain.
While adjusting their findings to account for age-related pain among older participants, the researchers found that a Mediterranean diet benefited men and women of all ages.
"The next step is to conduct a study with blood markers of inflammation," Emery said. "Then it would be ideal to conduct an intervention study to evaluate the change in body fat, inflammation, and pain."
A nutrition expert who reviewed the study said it reinforces the health benefits of a diet centered on seafood and plant-based proteins.
"This study provides an early look at a possible role diet might play in offsetting pain, but more research is needed," said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.
"Studies are needed in healthy adults to see if inflammatory markers are the same with similar pain as they are in obese adults," she said. "Studies are needed that look at diet over a longer period of time."
It would be beneficial to know, for example, if following a Mediterranean diet while young affected a person's pain as an adult.
Still, Diekman said the new findings help drive home the point that what you eat matters.
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