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Diet and Nutrition for Lupus Patients

Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that leads the body's immune system to attack its own tissues and organs. Lupus causes inflammation in a variety of areas around the body including joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, heart and lungs. There are diet and nutrition guidelines offered by the Lupus Foundation of America that if followed should help reduce lupus-like syndrome and lupus flares.

  1. A well balanced diet

    • Although no special diet has been proven to work in the treatment of lupus it is recommended that a nutritious, well-balanced and varied diet works best in helping reduce lupus like syndrome and lupus flares. A well balanced diet would include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and moderate amounts of meat, poultry and oily fish. A diet high in fat may promote the onset and progression of lupus by reducing the immune system, therefore a low fat diet should help avoid these problems. It is also believed that a vegan diet may be ideal in the treatment of lupus, as beef and dairy are high in the amino acids, phenylalanine and tyrosine, which are thought to aggravate the disease.

    Omega 3 & 6

    • It is suggested that lupus alters the essential fatty acid metabolism within the body. Therefore, adding omega-6 and omega-3 should restore the altered metabolism to its normal state. Another reason for the addition of omega-3 and 6 from oily fish or through the use of supplements is that they reduce the risk of heart disease; women with lupus are five to 10 times more likely to develop heart disease than those without the disease.

    Avoiding certain foods

    • Certain foods may cause more harm to the lupus sufferer because of effects of the disease on certain areas of the body or because of the effects certain foods have when mixed with medications used for treating lupus. Although moderate alcohol use does no extra harm to the lupus sufferer, it can react with some of the drugs used to treat the disease. Cosrtisosteroids are often used in the treatment of lupus as they treat high cholesterol in the blood. Fats and salt can raise the cholesterol levels in the blood and should therefore be reduced within a diet. Other foods such as alfalfa have been associated with lupus symptom flares: alfalfa supplements have been associated with muscle pain, fatigue, abnormal blood test results and kidney problems and should therefore be avoided.

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