Vitamin C Protects Against Rheumatoid Arthritis
 (HealthDayNews, 6/11/04)

Dorothy Pattison of the University of Manchester, England, and team, compared the diets of 146 arthritis-free people with those of 73 patients who had rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammation of the lining of the joints. The investigators found that subjects whose diets were richest in vitamin C from fruits and vegetables were three times less likely to develop this joint condition than those with the lowest C intake. In an unrelated study, researchers at Duke University found that excessive amounts of C may trigger osteoarthritis, suggesting that the disease processes in osteo and rheumatoid arthritis may not respond the same way to dosages of vitamin C.