Diet and adjuvant-induced arthritis in the rat.

Rats fed a high carbohydrate or a high protein diet deficient in copper, magnesium or zinc, or in the three trace elements together, failed to develop adjuvant-induced arthritis, yet a deficiency of both copper and magnesium in the diets exhibited no such inhibition. On the other hand, only a magnesium deficiency reduced the severity of the dextran anaphylactoid reaction.