Posted on December 27, 2007 in Latest News
Arthritis patients have to constantly keep watch over what they eat in order that the condition is not worsened. However, prevention is always better than cure. This bit might not be a coffee lover’s cup of coffee, but the risk rheumatoid arthritis has been shown to be higher in people who consume lot of coffee.
Excessive coffee drinking could increase your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). But most people won’t need to worry. You’d need to drink 11 or more cups of coffee per day. At that consumption rate, you are 15 times as likely to get RA. This is according to one Finnish study that monitored 6,800 people.
If you’re concerned about arthritis, you should switch to tea. Studies have only been performed on mice, but the results are encouraging. Again, it’s the polyphenols that seem to prevent the onset of disease. Mice were given either green tea or water, and the mice who drank the green tea were less likely to develop arthritis and those that did, had much milder symptoms.
The association between coffee drinking and the presence of a hallmark indicator for the development of rheumatoid arthritis-rheumatoid factor-was studied in a cross sectional survey of almost 7000 people, and in almost 19000 people, who were monitored for around 15 years. None of the study participants had any evidence of arthritis when first tested.
The number of cups of coffee drunk daily was strongly associated with rheumatoid factor in the survey study. In the second larger study, those people who drank four or more cups of coffee a day were twice as likely to test positive for arthritis as those who drank less.
The results held true even after adjusting for other risk factors, such as age, gender, smoking, and weight. Those who drank 11 or more cups a day were almost 15 times as likely to have rheumatoid factor as non-coffee drinkers.
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April 3rd, 2009 at 10:45 pm
I have rheumatoid. Through elimination diets and food correlation study, I have determinded that for me, more than 2 or three cups a week is enough to put me in pain, even with Celebrex ,Plaquinil, and Metrotrexate treatments. When I abstain from coffee altogether, the pain subsides, the joint swelling goes down, and my Rheumatoid factor drops. Sugar consumtion is largely suspect as well.