Book Review: Beat Arthritis by Michael Colgan

Wow, was Beat Arthritis ever an enlightening book. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given that it was by Michael Colgan, and he’s one of my 3 or 4 favourite fitness/health authors. I would go as far as to say that this is the best book I’ve ever read on arthritis. What made it so good?

Original source: here.

            In Beat Arthritis, Michael Colgan:

• Wasted no words. It’s a short book, but contains much more information than many large volumes on the subject.
• Used a conversational tone. When you’re reading Beat Arthritis, you feel like Michael Colgan is sitting in front of you, face-to-face.
• Despite its witty style, it’s extremely well-researched, and well-referenced.
• Satisfies your inner geek, by not just telling you what to do, but the deeper physiological reason of why it works.
• Tells you exact dosages of different supplements.
• Talks from his own experience. So for instance, in Beat Arthritis, he might say “In the research, a dose of 400mg of SAMe was used, but with my patients, I’ve found that we can go as high as 1200mg of SAMe.”
• Takes a holistic approach. He doesn’t talk about just nutrition, or just supplements, or just exercise. He talks about all three.

Here are some cool tidbits I learned from Beat Arthritis:

• One study found that folic acid inhibits the enzyme necessary to make uric acid. High uric acid levels cause gout. Taking folic acid (between 0.5 and 10 mg/day) together with vitamin B12 can provide fast relief for gout.
• As early as 1959, Dr. Johanna Budwig has been using flax oil for the treatment of arthritis. Because her research was in German, it didn’t gain traction in North America until the 1980s.
  • You need at least 40 grams per day (nearly 3 tablespoons) to have an effect.
  • Combining Flax oil with quark (a type of low-fat cottage cheese) increases absorption of the flax oil by 25%, so you can lower the dosage.
• Several studies found Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA) reduces the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis by 25-50%.
  • GLA inhibits the release of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF), which among other things, attacks cartilage.
• Cartilage is made by cells called “chondrocytes.” Chondrocytes make proteoglycans and collagen fibrils. The combination of those 2 makes collagen.
  • Proteoglycans are made of glucosamine. But that’s still missing half the structure of cartilage. So it may not be enough.
• One study found that SAMe (s-adenosylmethionine. Yes, that’s one word. If you use it in scrabble, you win forever) increases proteoglycans and decreases TNF
  • In one study, SAMe was found to be just as effective as ibuprofen at relieving pain, swelling and stiffness, and improving range of motion.

Of course, in Beat Arthritis there was also a discussion of exercise to beat arthritis, but as an exercise professional myself, I don’t agree with everything said in this section. There were, however a lot of good points made, like:

• Strength training is critical for arthritis management.
• Stretching, especially circular stretching helps relieve arthritis. A circular stretch is when you don’t just hold a stretch, but move in small circles so you stretch different parts of the muscle.