Diet, Chronic Pain and Disability (Adult Population)

This 2020 systematic review screened 20,316 articles from three large online scientific databases to analyse the current literature on the link between dietary patterns, the components of patients’ diet, and chronic musculoskeletal pain. Twelve eligible studies were included in this review, consisting of nine experimental and three observational studies. Seven out of nine experimental studies reported a pain-relieving effect of dietary changes. Proteins, fat, and sugar intake were all found to be associated with pain intensity and threshold, and also, inadequate consumption of calcium, folate, zinc, magnesium, and vitamin B6 was seen in sufferers of pain from chronic rheumatoid arthritis, whilst patients with fibromyalgia showed a lower intake of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, vitamin A-E-K, folate, selenium, and zinc. Moreover, chronic pain severity was seen to be positively correlated to fat and sugar intake in osteoarthritis, and pain threshold was positively associated with protein intake in fibromyalgia. Elma et. al (2020) also believe plant-based diets might have pain-relieving effects on chronic musculoskeletal pain.