With 10 million or more people with arthritis, most of them will have degenerative arthritis. This arthritis is called osteoarthritis. Degenerative arthritis occurs when joints are overworked, rub against each other, experience excess friction, and slowly degenerate.

Most joints rub against each other, but bone joints have a protective coating called cartilage. This cartilage has no blood vessels or nerves, so it cannot receive nutrients directly. This cartilage serves as a cushion or pad between the bones so that the bones do not wear out and you do not feel pain.

Cartilage shouldn’t wear down if its surfaces stay lubricated with the oils you eat. But if you’re not eating the right oils or the right amount, then your cartilage can dry out. Under these conditions, the cartilage will slowly deteriorate, leading to degenerative arthritis.

Once your cartilage is damaged or worn away, it is difficult to regenerate it. Cartilage is not living tissue and does not receive its nourishment directly from blood vessels. It is made up of mucin, albumin and sulfuric acid. It absorbs oils and nutrients by osmosis.

Osmosis is the movement of oil from an area of ​​high oil concentration, passing through a membrane, to an area of ​​low oil concentration. So if cartilage is deficient in oil and you don’t eat the oil you need to minimize cartilage-to-cartilage friction, then degenerative arthritis will result over time.

Eating oil that is high in vitamin D and iodine is what is needed for good cartilage strength and function. Oil such as cod liver oil is ideal as a lubricant for cartilage function. Fish oil is another good oil to eat. When you eat cod liver oil, this oil passes through the joint lining into the joint cavity. Once in the cavity, this oil is absorbed by the cartilage by osmosis.

Once cartilage is properly lubricated it has elasticity and lubrication so when it rubs against other cartilage there is little friction and cartilage degeneration occurs.

There is another process that can affect the integrity of the cartilage. Calcium can be deposited in the bone near the cartilage and break down the cartilage and wear it away.

To prevent this condition, calcium must be kept in solution in the lymphatic fluid. This is achieved by maintaining a balanced diet.

Degenerative arthritis is a process in which the cartilage at the end of the bones in the joint structures slowly breaks down. This degradation is produced by the lack of adequate oil in the diet and by the accumulation of calcium in the joints of the bones. Joint degeneration begins to occur after the age of 20 and can continue if the proper diet is not followed.

Eating the right foods to prevent degenerative arthritis is hard to do if you’ve been raised to eat the wrong kinds of foods. But as an adult, you now have a choice about whether you will get osteoarthritis when you are older if you continue to eat the wrong kinds of foods.