Strategies Using Functional Food and Nutraceuticals to Prevent and Treat Arthritis

Arthritis is described as a condition that causes pain, swelling and tenderness in the joints that usually aggravates with age. The two major types of arthritis are osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). OA is caused by an imbalance between the catabolic and anabolic processes that results in inflammation and degeneration of cartilage, joint pain, stiffness, swelling and mobility loss. RA is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease associated with an imbalance of the immune system causing inflammation, pain and swelling, mostly in the joint. Nutraceuticals have been shown to have a role in the management of the metabolic, oxidative and inflammatory processes in a wide variety of cells and tissues for the treatment of various diseases and disorders, including obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and inflammatory conditions. In this chapter, we have highlighted the efficacy of various nutraceuticals including fish oil, Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), olive oil, curcumin and vitamin C for the amelioration of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.