What foods are good for healthy joints?
Written on 06/30/2025 by Pauline de Santarome
The best foods for your joints
Staying active starts with what you eat. Certain foods are essential for maintaining flexible, healthy joints. Oily fish, green vegetables, antioxidant-rich fruits, and anti-inflammatory spices are the best foods to include in your diet to take care of your joints every day. Discover our natural solutions for joints.
Understanding the nutritional needs of joints
To know which foods to prioritize, you first need to understand how our joints work and what they need to stay healthy.
How do joints work and why do they deteriorate?
Joints connect bones to each other. They are composed of articular cartilage, ligaments, synovial fluid, and membranes. This complex system allows for pain-free movement.
Over time, with age, overuse, or trauma, cartilage wears down. Synovial fluid becomes scarce, ligaments lose elasticity, causing stiffness, pain, or inflammation. And it is precisely diet that can slow down or accelerate this process.
The link between diet, inflammation, and joint pain
Certain foods promote inflammation in the body. When inflammation becomes chronic, it has a direct impact on the joints. Conversely, a diet rich in anti-inflammatory nutrients helps limit cartilage degradation, relieve pain, and improve mobility.
Eating better is therefore a preventive measure... but also a way to support sensitive joints.
The best foods for healthy joints
Certain foods provide nutrients that are essential for healthy joints. Here are some to include regularly in your diet.
Fatty fish rich in omega-3
Fish contain large amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, which are known for their anti-inflammatory properties. They reduce joint pain and limit cartilage degradation.
Eat 2 to 3 servings of salmon, sardines, herring, or mackerel per week. Cod liver oil is also an excellent source.
There is a plant-based alternative: flax or chia seeds, but the omega-3s they contain are less easily absorbed by the body.
Green vegetables: packed with antioxidants and calcium
Broccoli, spinach, kale, watercress... Green leafy vegetables are rich in vitamins C and K, calcium, fiber, and antioxidants. They help protect cartilage cells, support collagen production, and limit inflammatory processes.
A good habit: include a serving of green vegetables with every meal.
Red fruits and citrus fruits: natural anti-inflammatories
Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, oranges, lemons... All contain polyphenols, flavonoids, and vitamin C, which combat oxidative stress and support joint tissue regeneration. Like green vegetables, they also support collagen synthesis, which is essential for cartilage.
Eat them fresh, in season, or frozen with no added sugar.
Beneficial spices: turmeric and ginger at the top of the list
Turmeric contains curcumin, a molecule with recognized anti-inflammatory properties. Ginger acts in a similar way.
These spices help relieve joint pain, especially in cases of osteoarthritis.
To reap their benefits, you need to consume them regularly, either in cooking or as a dietary supplement.
Oilseeds and seeds: allies of cartilage
Walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds are rich in omega-3, zinc, selenium, and vitamin E.
These nutrients protect joints from wear and tear, support cartilage regeneration, and help reduce inflammation.
A small handful per day is enough. Be careful with roasted or salted versions, which are less nutritious.
Dietary mistakes to avoid in order to protect your joints
Certain products increase the level of chronic inflammation or accelerate cartilage degradation:
- Sugar and ultra-processed foods: white bread, refined pasta, sodas, and industrial foods high in fat and sugar alter the intestinal flora, accelerate cartilage degradation, disrupt the microbiota, and increase the risk of joint pain.
- Excessive alcohol, tobacco, and coffee: an inflammatory trio: alcohol and tobacco generate oxidative stress, promote inflammation, and reduce tissue oxygenation. Excessive coffee consumption can exacerbate joint dehydration, especially if it replaces water.
- Not enough water: beware of joint dehydration: synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints, is mainly composed of water. In case of dehydration, it becomes scarce, the joints become less mobile and more painful. Drink water throughout the day, even if you are not thirsty, and limit diuretic beverages such as coffee and soda.
Food and supplements: a winning combination for your joints
Food is essential, but it can be supplemented with natural supplements, particularly plant-based ones.
The benefits of natural remedies for joint support
Dietary supplements target deficiencies, provide concentrated active ingredients, and offer enhanced action. They are particularly useful for occasional joint pain, intense physical activity, or prevention after age 50.
Regular treatments, combined with a healthy lifestyle, help maintain joint flexibility.
Focus on key active ingredients in herbal medicine: bamboo, blackcurrant, harpagophytum, etc.
Bamboo is rich in silica, a trace element essential for cartilage regeneration.
Blackcurrants are known for their natural anti-inflammatory effects, particularly in cases of joint pain.
Harpagophytum, also known as "devil's claw," has been used for centuries to soothe sensitive joints.
These plants, often combined in supplements, enhance the action of foods and have a profound effect.
Santarome, your ally for flexible and healthy joints
Santarome offers natural supplements, mostly made in France, with an exclusive PGA complex: Phyto (plants), Gemmo (buds), Aroma (essential oils), and micronutrition to naturally support your joints:
Myosteo Muscle Relaxant: perfect for back, neck, and lower back pain and soothing muscle tension. Made with horsetail, ashwagandha, skullcap, nettle, and red cinchona.
Harpagophytum Bio 2000: a concentrated extract of harpagophytum to soothe joints in crisis.
Bio Joint Comfort - Bud macerate: a complex of blackcurrant, pine, and birch buds to strengthen joint flexibility.
Take care of your joints now with our natural solutions.
★★★★★ - Tristan
MYOSTÉO MUSCLE RELAXANT
"Great product! With clear information about the ingredients, it relaxes muscles in 15 minutes, ideal for athletes or for minor everyday aches and pains. A must-have for the home!"
