Η arthritis is a term that encompasses more than 100 different rheumatic diseases and conditions, with osteoarthritis being the most common.
Other common forms of arthritis are gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus.
Common symptoms include pain, burning, stiffness, and swelling in or around the joints.
Some forms of arthritis, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, can affect multiple organs and cause widespread symptoms.
Arthritis mainly affects the elderly, but also one in every 1,000 children.
Severe forms of the disease cause physical disability in more than three million people.
Scientists have discovered that adding cod liver oil to your daily diet can delay or even reverse cartilage destruction, relieving the pain of arthritis.
It is estimated that it may even delay knee replacement surgery.
Researchers examined the effect of omega-3 fatty acids (the main component of cod liver oil) on sections of knee joints that had been replaced through arthroplasty.
Some of the samples were treated with omega-3 fatty acids for 24 hours in the laboratory, while the rest remained untouched.
The experts then added a chemical substance to all of the samples, which were examined four days later.
When researchers examined the pieces of cartilage, they found that the samples that had not been impregnated
with omega-3 fatty acids a specific type of enzyme responsible for the destruction of cartilage
to those suffering from arthritis.
However, in samples treated with omega-3 fatty acids, both these enzymes and those that cause inflammation and joint pain were «switched off.».
