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Vegan diet alleviates fibromyalgia symptoms.

Scand J Rheumatol 2000;29(5):308-13

Kaartinen K, Lammi K, Hypen M, Nenonen M, Hanninen O, Rauma AL

Department of Physiology, University of Kuopio, Finland.
hietanen.kaartinen@pp.inet.fi

PMID: 11093597, UI: 20543926

The effect of a strict, low-salt, uncooked vegan diet rich in
lactobacteria on symptoms in 18 fibromyalgia patients during and after a
3-month intervention period in an open, non-randomized controlled study
was evaluated.

As control 15 patients continued their omnivorous diet.

The groups did not differ significantly from each other in the beginning
of the study in any other parameters except in pain and urine sodium. The
results revealed significant improvements in Visual analogue scale of
pain (VAS) (p=0.005), joint stiffness (p=0.001), quality of sleep
(p=0.0001), Health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) (p=0.031), General
health questionnaire (GHQ) (p=0.021), and a rheumatologist's own
questionnaire (p=0.038).

The majority of patients were overweight to some extent at the beginning
of the study and shifting to a vegan food caused a significant reduction
in body mass index (BMI) (p=0.0001). Total serum cholesterol showed a
statistically significant lowering (p=0.003). Urine sodium dropped to 1/3
of the beginning values (p=0.0001) indicating good diet compliance.

It can be concluded that vegan diet had beneficial effects on
fibromyalgia symptoms at least in the short run.

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