Is Rheumatoid Arthritis Caused By Your Nose?

Most people think of rheumatoid arthritis as a genetic condition in which our immune systems attack our healthy joints.

And there is little we can do about that, right?

Nothing could be further from the truth, according to a new study in The Journal of Rheumatology.

What prompted the question on the relationship between upper respiratory tract diseases and rheumatoid arthritis (RA)?

The authors noticed mounting scientific evidence suggesting that RA could originate in sites with inflamed mucosa, such as in the lungs. After all, smoking is one of the strongest risk factors for RA, and smoking causes inflammatory infections of the mucosa in the lungs.

Additionally, the existing research shows that toxins like silica and coal contribute to RA, and both of these also cause lung inflammation.

Research has also established that inflammatory lower respiratory tract infections like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease could contribute to the development of RA.

Given all this evidence that RA could originate in locations with inflamed mucosa, the authors of this new study wondered whether common upper respiratory tract infections could have the same effect.

Their study mined data from the Mass General Brigham Biobank, a research bank from Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and some other affiliated sites in the region.

This research bank began collecting blood samples and other health information from participants in 2010; it contained 117,248 subjects by the time of this study.

The researchers identified 2,017 RA cases, 741 of which had health data available for five or more years before the RA diagnosis.

To confirm each lower and upper respiratory tract infection in their subjects, they required inpatient or outpatient diagnoses, as reflected on their medical records.

The research bank also included information regarding race, sex, age, economic status, education level, smoking status, body weight, and other relevant factors.

They found that numerous common conditions increased their subjects’ risk of developing RA in subsequent years:

1. Acute sinusitis increased the risk by 61%.
2. Chronic sinusitis increased risk by 116%.
3. Asthma increased risk by 39%.
4. Acute pharyngitis increased risk by 34%.
5. Chronic rhinitis/pharyngitis increased risk by 77%.
6. Pneumonia increased risk by 17%.

All of these conditions are relatively common. In fact, sinusitis (inflamed sinuses) and pharyngitis (sore throat/inflamed pharynx) are extremely common.

The study does not imply that you will get RA if you have any of these conditions, but they did find that these conditions increase your risk, making it even more important to live a healthy lifestyle that fights off inflammation.

Most importantly, this proves that rheumatoid arthritis, as well as other types of arthritis, are less connected to genetics and more a result of lifestyle factors. Therefore, they can be healed with lifestyle changes.

This explains how thousands of readers have healed their arthritis using the simple steps explained here…