“Is there any preventive medicine for arthritis?”

To potentially reduce the risk of developing arthritis, maintain a healthy weight, engage in regular exercise, protect your joints from injury and strain, maintain good posture, follow a balanced diet, and regularly consult with healthcare professionals for check-ups and guidance. However, it's important to note that the development of arthritis is influenced by various factors, including genetics and environmental factors, and prevention strategies may not guarantee avoidance of the condition.

Most autoimmune arthritis conditions (Rheumatoid Arthritis, Systemic Lupus Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis, etc.) have at their core a deficiency of vitamin D. The current "normal" lab levels of 30-100 are inadequate to determine if you have enough vitamin D. First, the lower limit of 30 is just enough to prevent rickets in a child. It is far from the individuals optimal level, which is just that - individual. Multiple studies show that various vitamin D levels below 60 have a significant association with both autoimmune disease and cancer risk. Michael Holick, MD, who is the #2 reference on vitamin D tests done by Labcorp, has just published a paper in 2017 that recommends vitamin D intake of 5000 IU - 15,000 IU daily in normal healthy individuals with blood levels well above 100. Most patients with autoimmune disease have lower levels of vitamin D. Much research has been done on autoimmunity and vitamin D, which has revealed that many autoimmune patients have one or more mutations in their vitamin D processing proteins so they don't utilize vitamin D adequately in their immune system even with "normal" levels. Vitamin D plays a profound role in the immune system, both making it work better to attack invading organisms, but also in decreasing it from causing increased inflammation, autoimmunity & cancer risk. In addition most people with autoimmune disease, including arthritis, have high Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) antibodies.Turns out EBV virus blocks vitamin D receptors! Get your vitamin D levels & EBV antibody levels tested. There are currently tests for vitamin D receptor gene mutations. If you can find a test for alpha-1-hydroxylase (also called CYP27b1) - the enzyme that converts your inactive vitamin D3 (the kind you take) to the active form, have it tested. Finally, have your doctor read the research about vitamin D, vitamin D processing protein mutations (SNPs), EBV and autoimmune arthritis.

Les Cole, MD