Can chicken soup for breakfast really beat arthritis in children?
Yes, says Gadget Show’s Jason ...and my daughter proves it
WHEN Gadget Show presenter Jason Bradbury watched his five-yearold daughter Marnie struggling to climb the stairs, he was naturally concerned. A few weeks before, Marnie had contracted a virus at school which had, it seemed, been nothing unusual. But when Marnie’s knees and wrists began to swell, she lost flexibility in her joints and tired easily, the family decided it was time to seek specialist help.
To their shock, rheumatologists at Great Ormond Street Hospital diagnosed juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) – inflammation of the joints caused by the immune system attacking the body.
Treating the condition involves taking immuno-suppressant drugs which have potentially severe side effects if used long-term.
The family decided instead to investigate alternative ways to maintain Marnie’s health, and it prompted a profound change in the family’s lives.
After rejecting one type of conventional drug therapy, Marnie’s mother Claire left her job as a project manager and retrained as a nutritionist – and put together a diet that involved Marnie sipping chicken-bone broth for breakfast. Remarkably, it may have worked. Marnie, 12, takes no drugs and has had no symptoms for two-anda-half years. Her family believe this is thanks to her lifestyle.
In fact, Marnie’s fitness has improved so dramatically that she will compete in her first triathlon – a long-distance race that involves cycling, running and swimming – in November, on the Caribbean paradise island of Nevis.
About 12,000 children in the UK have JIA. The cause is unknown, although infections may trigger the immune system to become over-active in some people, which in turn can lead to inflammation.
Doctors say food can’t combat childhood arthritis, and that those with such a condition find that symptoms become less severe with age. But Jason, 48, defended the family’s decisions. He said: ‘Marnie went from not being able to walk up stairs properly to doing a triathlon and using a trampoline, bouncing up and down. Could she have just grown out of it?
‘We don’t know – but we also weren’t prepared to do nothing.’
Marnie was prescribed methotrexate, weekly injections of a powerful drug that suppresses the immune system. Side effects include liver damage, which means patients undergo regular blood tests, and nausea.
‘It was her worst nightmare,’ Claire recalled. ‘She was scared of needles, so it took hours. The drug also made her vomit a lot.’
Treatment controlled her symptoms at first, but painful flare-ups led to the dosage being increased. When she was seven, and suffering associated eye problems, her doctors said they wanted to prescribe a drug that blocks over-production of TNF, a protein in the body that can cause inflammation – but has been linked severe side effects.
Her concerned parents rejected this – although Marnie remained on methotrexate – and Claire began to research alternatives. Initially they tried the Margaret Hill diet – named after a nurse who claimed to have cured herself of arthritis with food – which eliminates salt, citrus fruit and animal fats to ‘neutralise the blood’ and reduce inflammation. The Bradburys say GOSH were ‘supportive’ of their plan as long as Marnie’s arthritis did not worsen.
Spurred on by seeing her daughter’s symptoms improve Claire began studying to become a fulltime nutritionist, and used her new-found expertise to design a diet based on whole foods, little sugar and no processed food.
TODAY, breakfast could be a chicken-bone broth, porridge or protein smoothie with berries; lunch might be organic chicken or fish with vegetables; while dinner includes organic steak or mackerel with home-made sweet potato fries and green leafy vegetables. Marnie also takes a range of nutritional supplements.
The theory is that the diet is high in foods that natural health advocates claim flight inflammation and eradicates those – such as processed meats, sugary snacks and breakfast cereals – that promote it, and this is how it tackles arthritis.
Jason said: ‘Marnie’s joint mobility became better until it was normal. That’s hard to argue with.’
He insisted they would have no qualms about going back on a drugs regime should Marnie need it.
‘It would be the only responsible thing to do,’ he said.
GOSH paediatric rheumatologist Dr Nathan Hasson said: ‘Of course, a healthy diet is beneficial to everyone but if diet was a convincing factor in treating JIA, we would recommend it.
‘I only know one case out of thousands still getting flare-ups in adulthood.’
Dr Lucy Wedderburn, director of Arthritis Research UK’s Centre for Adolescent Rheumatology, added: ‘There may be links between the balance of gut bacteria we all live with and arthritis, and we are investigating this topic. So far we really don’t know.’