Trial reportArthritis research & therapy2008
Gluten-free vegan diet induces decreased LDL and oxidized LDL levels and raised atheroprotective natural antibodies against phosphorylcholine in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized study.
Trial report in Arthritis research & therapy, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 125 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of vegetarian diets on CRP: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials in adults.BMC nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Nutrition and diet in rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, and psoriatic arthritis: a systematic review.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of gluten-free diet (GFD) on some of cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of nutritional science · 2024Pooled it
- Vegetarian or vegan diets and blood lipids: a meta-analysis of randomized trials.European heart journal · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of a gluten-reduced or gluten-free diet for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Oxidized low-density lipoprotein associates with cardiovascular disease by a vicious cycle of atherosclerosis and inflammation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Dietary Interventions with or without Omega-3 Supplementation for the Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- The effects of plant-based diets on the body and the brain: a systematic review.Translational psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Vegetarian-Based Dietary Patterns and their Relation with Inflammatory and Immune Biomarkers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2019Pooled it
- Association between plant-based diets and plasma lipids: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nutrition reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Metabolic Syndrome Biomarkers: A Panel for Early Detection, Management, and Risk Stratification in the West Virginian Population.International journal of medical sciences · 2016Pooled it
- Effects of Vegetarian Diets on Blood Lipids: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2015Pooled it
- Impact of an eight-week isocaloric vegan dietary intervention on hemogram parameters and lymphocyte subsets: a randomized-controlled trial.BMC medicine · 2026Trial
- A randomized controlled cross-over trial investigating the acute inflammatory and metabolic response after meals based on red meat, fatty fish, or soy protein: the postprandial inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis (PIRA) trial.European journal of nutrition · 2024Trial
- Effects of a Vegetarian Diet on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors, Gut Microbiota, and Plasma Metabolome in Subjects With Ischemic Heart Disease: A Randomized, Crossover Study.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2020Trial
- Article
- The Role of Microbiome and Diet on Disease Activity and Immune-Inflammatory Status in Rheumatoid Arthritis.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Review
- The Role of Nutrition in the Development, Management, and Prevention of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Comprehensive Review.Nutrients · 2025Review
- One-year follow-up of a short specific carbohydrate diet intervention in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: A retrospectively controlled study with focus on medical burden.Clinical rheumatology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of vegan diet in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on blood lipids oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) and natural atheroprotective antibodies against phosphorylcholine (anti-PCs).
methodsSixty-six patients with active RA were randomly assigned to either a vegan diet free of gluten (38 patients) or a well-balanced non-vegan diet (28 patients) for 1 year. Thirty patients in the vegan group completed more than 3 months on the diet regimen. Blood lipids were analyzed by routine methods, and oxLDL and anti-PCs were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data and serum samples were obtained at baseline and after 3 and 12 months.
resultsMean ages were 50.0 years for the vegan group and 50.8 years for controls. Gluten-free vegan diet induced lower body mass index (BMI) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and higher anti-PC IgM than control diet (p < 0.005). In the vegan group, BMI, LDL, and cholesterol decreased after both 3 and 12 months (p < 0.01) and oxLDL after 3 months (p = 0.021) and trendwise after 12 months (p = 0.090). Triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein did not change. IgA anti-PC levels increased after 3 months (p = 0.027) and IgM anti-PC levels increased trendwise after 12 months (p = 0.057). There was no difference in IgG anti-PC levels. In the control diet group, IgM anti-PC levels decreased both after 3 and 12 months (p < 0.01). When separating vegan patients into clinical responders and non-responders at 12 months, the effects on oxLDL and anti-PC IgA were seen only in responders (p < 0.05).
conclusionA gluten-free vegan diet in RA induces changes that are potentially atheroprotective and anti-inflammatory, including decreased LDL and oxLDL levels and raised anti-PC IgM and IgA levels.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.