Do you know the common saying - eat an apple a day keeps the doctor away?  I grew up hearing phrase this often.  Perhaps my grandmother, the nurse, helped to spread this medicinal proverb from 19th century Wales.  Apples contain several nutrients which promote health including vitamin C, pectin (soluble fiber), boron, quercetin (a flavonoid), and a number of phytonutrients including vitamin A, vitamin E, and beta carotene.

Eating brightly colored fruits and vegetables are actually very good for your health and can help to prevent disease.  In fact, a new study published earlier this year suggested that eating foods containing colorful carotenoids, particularly beta carotene and lutein, may prevent or delay the onset of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Another study published in the European Journal of Nutrition (Boeing, 2012) provides a critical review of the role of fruit and vegetable consumption in the prevention of chronic diseases including rheumatoid arthritis.  Researchers undertook a comprehensive analysis of prior studies evaluating fruit and vegetable intake in regard to several chronic diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, cancer, chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, osteoporosis, eye diseases, and dementia.  The level of evidence, number and size of studies, and quality of the studies were considered.

The analysis showed that for hypertension, CHD (for which RA patients are at increased risk), and stroke, there is convincing evidence that eating more fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of disease.  Increased consumption protected against weight gain, however it did not directly affect the incidence of type 2 diabetes.  Possible evidence suggests that eating more fruits and vegetables lowers the risk of certain eye diseases, dementia, and osteoporosis.  

The data also suggests that increased consumption may contribute to the prevention of asthma, COPD, and RA.  For IBD, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy, there was insufficient evidence regarding an association between eating fruits and vegetables and disease risk.

Although the cause of RA is largely unknown, it is affected by genetic factors, smoking, being overweight, and the food we eat to a certain extent.  Regarding RA and nutrition, the risk of disease seems to be increased by the consumption of red meat, protein, and coffee, while it is lowered by oily fish and olive oil.  

In 4 prospective cohort studies identified involving RA, most showed a reduced risk of disease with a high consumption of fruits and vegetables.  The one study which did not find an inverse association did not include details regarding the actual amount of fruits and vegetables consumed, making it difficult to compare to the other studies.

In a case-control study (the only one available), eating more servings of cooked vegetables (2.9 servings/day) significantly lowered the risk of RA, while eating raw vegetables was not effective (Linos, 1999).  Daily vegetable, but not daily fruit, consumption was associated with more favorable arterial function in patients with RA (Crilly 2012).