Effects Of High Fiber Multigrain Supplementation On Clinical Disease Measures, Inflammatory Biomarkers, Nutritional Status And Quality Of Life Among Moderate To Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory, autoimmune rheumatic disease, resulting in progressive joint inflammation and destruction attributed by a combination of genetic and environmental factor. The current RA drugs may help slow the disease's progression, but they may cause side effects. Due to the potential side effects, many RA patients swifted to other alternative remedies. Dietary nutritional components have been demonstrated to influence inflammation, oxidative stress, and disease progression. With the aforementioned, this study is aimed to evaluate the effect of high fiber multigrain supplementation on (1) clinical disease symptoms, (2) inflammation status, (3) antioxidant and oxidative stress level (4) nutritional status, quality of life and functionality in RA patients. Fifty-one RA patients were recruited from Rheumatology Unit, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, and randomly assigned into either high fiber multigrain supplement (n=25; standard rheumatic medication + 80g/d multigrain) or control (n=26; standard rheumatic medication) groups for 12 weeks. Clinical assessments were improved significantly in the supplement group; as evident by reductions in disease activity score (DAS 28) (p<0.05), morning stiffness rating scale (p<0.01), joint scale (p<0.05) and pain scale (p<0.01)