At the present time there are several books relating diet to arthritis. Jarvis stresses honey and vinegar in his book [Jarvis]. Since honey is extremely low in potassium, it would be counter productive. The vinegar could be very beneficial if well fed people are failing to metabolize [Winegrad] all of the acetate ion or the acetate is being excreted by the kidneys before it has a chance to enter the cells because the acid hydrogen ion interferes with potassium at the excretion site as will be developed later. I know of no tests reported in the literature testing this concept. Jarvis hints at other dietary changes also, which if followed, would increase potassium intake inadvertently. Kombucha, a vinegar like ferment, is said to be helpful for arthritis.
Dong and Banks prescribe a diet free of chemicals, milk, meat and sugar, and low in fat [Dong]. If his diet were followed it would definitely increase potassium intake, especially since he stresses unprocessed vegetables. However, he attributes its success to freedom from allergens and chemicals, so that philosophically he tends to be in the same general physiological category as the autoimmune hypothesis is in, to be discussed in Chapter II. I am fairly certain that those who have success with his diet do so because of the lucky quirk that potassium increases at the same time. I think a good case could be made for keeping chemicals out of food. Some, like sulfite, which destroys vitamin B-1, are known to be harmful (except to people low in potassium, where it is protective against heart and kidney disease [Folis] ), some like dyes are fraudulent and/or harmful. I doubt if removing them would have more than a small affect on arthritis though. Alexander recommends vitamin D against arthritis. However like Dong he also speaks of low sugar and raw vegetables [Alexander]. It has been proposed that vitamin D has an affect dampening the immune system. [Cantorna] although apparently this concept has not been followed up on. Those using Alexander?s diet must have had less trouble with tooth decay, tuberculosis [Wilkinson], muscle cramps, and rickets. Also vitamin D is necessary for magnesium reabsorption in the kidneys [Ritchie] which magnesium in turn is necessary for powering some of the electrolyte pumps, so it could easily be having an indirect affect on potassium in many cases. This may be the reason why women taking vitamin D have less arthritis than those who do not.[Merlino].
Allergy has been proposed as a possible cause but stressing allergens naturally present in food. It is quite conceivable that allergens damage the kidneys' ability to retain potassium. However, no one has established this yet. More likely is that the decline in cortisol during a potassium deficiency [Mikosha (in guinea pigs) ] stimulates the allergic response. It is also suggested by an experiment in which cortisol was increased by potassium chloride given to people [Ueda]. There is good evidence, though, of beneficial results from defeating allergy in specific cases. It is possible that allergens affect that part of the immune system involved in arthritis.
