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An essential amino acid found in most meats, dairy and nuts could cause arthritis, a new study has revealed.
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And scientists say this is one of the ways the Mediterranean diet is healthier for us compared to the usual Western diet.
Tryptophan has many uses in the body, including helping in the production of proteins, muscles, enzymes, and neurotransmitters – the nervous system’s chemical messengers.
But it can be broken down by bacteria in the digestive system into an inflammatory chemical that primes the immune system towards arthritis, according to researchers at the University of Colorado.
It is found in beef, lamb, pork, poultry, and dairy, as well as in nuts and seeds, whole grains, and legumes.
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The team set out to learn how a substance that often is a force for good in the body is converted into a pathway to inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
To do this, they put mice on antibiotics to wipe out their microbiome.
They found that when tryptophan is broken down into indole, which is found in feces, the mice developed autoreactive T-cells that are more inflammatory.
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Associate professor Kristi Kuhn said: “It’s been known that the microbiome – the bacteria in our gut – can break down tryptophan into byproducts.
“Some of those byproducts are anti-inflammatory, but we’ve also associated some inflammatory causes of those products.
“We’re the first to highlight which products are contributing to inflammation, and how they are doing that.”
The researchers hope that their findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could hold the key to future arthritis treatments.
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Dr. Kuhn added: “If tryptophan hits our body’s cells, it tends to go get broken down into anti-inflammatory products versus when it hits the bacterial cells and goes more inflammatory.
“The ways we think about how this could lead to therapies are: How do you keep that balance tipped so that tryptophan goes towards that anti-inflammatory pathway? How can you manipulate intestinal bacteria to tip that balance? That’s where we’re interested in going in the future.
“A diet that’s rich in plant-based fibers and lean meats – this whole Mediterranean diet – seems to push the microbiome into a healthier state, so that you are getting the anti-inflammatory properties of tryptophan, whereas the typical western diet seems to go more toward the inflammatory pathway.”
She concluded: “We have started to understand the at-risk stage, where we can actually identify people who are likely to progress to rheumatoid arthritis within the next few years based on blood markers.
“There’s some data that suggests we could intervene during that period and prevent disease, but we’re not quite sure yet what are the right ways to intervene.”