title: Faecal microbial flora and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis during a vegan diet.
abstract: To clarify the role of the faecal flora in the diet-induced decrease of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) activity, 43 RA patients were randomized into two groups: the test group to receive living food, a form of uncooked vegan diet rich in lactobacilli, and the control group to continue their ordinary omnivorous diets. Based on clinical assessments before, during and after the intervention period, a disease improvement index was constructed for each patient. According to the index, patients were assigned either to a group with a high improvement index (HI) or to a group with a low improvement index (LO). Stool samples collected from each patient before the intervention and at 1 month were analysed by direct stool sample gas-liquid chromatography of bacterial cellular fatty acids. This method has proved to be a simple and sensitive way to detect changes and differences in the faecal microbial flora between individual stool samples or groups of them. A significant, diet-induced change in the faecal flora (P = 0.001) was observed in the test group, but not in the control group. Further, in the test group, a significant (P = 0.001) difference was detected between the HI and LO categories at 1 month, but not in the pre-test samples. We conclude that a vegan diet changes the faecal microbial flora in RA patients, and changes in the faecal flora are associated with improvement in RA activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Turku University Central Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peltonen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nenonen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Helve
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hänninen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Toivanen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eerola
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000382:microbiology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D003106:Colon / Q000382:microbiology; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011897:Random Allocation
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids