P990 - A 12-WEEK MEDDIET+ INTERVENTION IMPROVES RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS OUTCOMES: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE TASTY TRIAL

P990

A 12-WEEK MEDDIET+ INTERVENTION IMPROVES RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS OUTCOMES: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE TASTY TRIAL

A. Hernando¹, S. Charneca^1,*, I. Almada-Correia^2,3, J. Polido-Pereira^2,3,4, R. Pereira da Costa⁴, A. Silva⁴, A. Vieira³, M. Silvério-António⁵, M. Lucas Rocha⁴, J. Eurico Fonseca^2,3,4, P. Costa-Reis^2,3,6, C. Sousa Guerreiro^1,7

¹Nutrition Lab, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon Academic Medical Centre, ²Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon Academic Medical Centre, ³GIMM - Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine, ⁴Rheumatology department, ULS Santa Maria, Lisbon Academic Medical Centre, Lisbon, ⁵Rheumatology Department, CUF Almada e Barreiro, Setúbal, ⁶Pediatric Rheumatology unit, ULS Santa Maria, Lisbon Academic Medical Centre, ⁷Environmental Health Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon Academic Medical Centre, Lisbon, Portugal

Rationale: Increasing evidence links diet and nutritional status with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) outcomes. This trial investigates if a Mediterranean Diet enriched with fermented foods (MedDiet+) impacts disease activity, inflammation, and functional status in RA.

Methods: RA patients from a tertiary hospital were randomly assigned to the MedDiet+ or control group (CG). The 12-week intervention developed by dietitians included a diet plan, educational resources, food baskets, and clinical culinary workshops. The following variables were evaluated: 28-joint disease activity score incorporating erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR);patient global assessment (PGA);pain intensity visual analogue scale;functional status using the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ);Doppler ultrasound scores for grey-scale (DUS-GS) and power Doppler (DUS-PD) of 32 joints;C-reactive protein (CRP,mg/dL);body mass index (BMI,kg/m²) and waist circumference (WC,cm). Independent samples t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for group comparisons; results are as mean±SD or median(IQR), as appropriate.

Results: Thirty-one RA patients were included (MedDiet+,n=16; CG,n=15; 93.5% female; 60±11 years old). At baseline, groups did not differ significantly. After 12 weeks, there were significant differences between the MedDiet+ and CG for DUS-GS scores (-7.81±9.09 vs -0.07±11.24,p=0.043), PGA (-12.5(20) vs 0(10),p=0.028), CRP levels (-0.07(0.30) vs 0.05(0.28),p=0.049), BMI (-1.39±1.02 vs -0.05 ±0.81,p<0.001), WC (-5.41±3.21 vs -0.47±1.90,p<0.001), pain score (-20.94±26.09 vs 15.00±27.97,p=0.001), and HAQ score (-0.37±0.32 vs 0.03±0.42,p=0.006). No significant differences were found for DUS-PD and DAS28-ESR.

Conclusion: A MedDiet+ pattern led to greater improvements in nutritional status, ultrasound scores, inflammatory markers, functional status, and pain. These preliminary results are in favour of keeping the trial ongoing.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared