Strawberries Improve Pain and Inflammation in Obese Adults with Radiographic Evidence of Knee Osteoarthritis

Schell J, Scofield RH, Barrett JR, Kurien BT, Betts N, Lyons TJ, Zhao YD, Basu A · Nutrients

Against the matched control, IL-6, IL-1β and MMP-3 all fell (p < 0.05), and constant, intermittent and total pain on the ICOAP questionnaire fell along with disability on the HAQ-DI (p < 0.05). CRP, nitrite, glucose and lipids did not change. The control beverage was matched for calories and fibre.

Population

Obese adults (mean BMI 39.1) aged 57 with radiographic knee osteoarthritis

Intervention

Reconstituted freeze-dried strawberry beverage, 50 g/day for 12 weeks

Comparator

Calorie- and fibre-matched control beverage, crossover with a 2-week washout

Limitations

Seventeen people, four of them men, no dropouts. Twelve-week periods in a 26-week crossover, with an obese population in whom pain and inflammation have more room to move than in a lean one. No structural or imaging endpoint, and the visual-analogue pain and health scales did not move. The powders were supplied by the California Strawberry Commission; the trial was funded by university and NIH sources.