Heavy Coffee Drinking May Raise Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk

[Guest guest]

I was reading some of the messages about soda and the only thing I

could find on the subject was about coffee. I found this at:

http://www.mercola.com/2000/aug/6/coffee_arthritis.htm

I will keep on searching.

Heavy Coffee Drinking May Raise Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk

People who drink many cups of coffee every day appear to be at a

higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Those who drank four

or more cups of coffee a day had twice the risk of developing

rheumatoid arthritis, compared with people who drank less coffee.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the body's

defenses attack its own tissues. It is more common in women, tends to

strike between the ages of 36 and 50, and results in a chronic

destruction and deformity of the joints. Smoking, high cholesterol,

being overweight and certain dietary factors have also been linked

with a higher risk of the disease.

Dr. Maarku Heliovaara of the National Public Health Institute in

Helsinki and colleagues looked at data from nearly 19,000 healthy men

and women who entered a study in the early 1970s and were followed

for 15 years.

In that time, 126 people developed rheumatoid arthritis and 89 of

those people had detectable levels of rheumatoid factor -- an

antibody that is often found in the blood years before the onset of

rheumatoid arthritis.

Coffee drinkers were at higher risk of developing rheumatoid factor-

associated rheumatoid arthritis.

The results " should be viewed as the first step in support of the

hypothesis that coffee consumption has a causative role in the

development of rheumatoid factor positive rheumatoid arthritis, " the

researchers write. It is not clear why coffee might be associated

with rheumatoid factor.

Most people in the current study drank boiled coffee, a practice no

longer common in Finland. It is possible that some ingredient in

coffee that is associated with rheumatoid factor is removed by the

filtration, according to the researchers.

" In Finland, more than three quarters of coffee consumers have

switched from boiled coffee to filtered coffee since the 1970s, "

according to the report. " The type of coffee consumed should

therefore be considered in further studies on the relation between

coffee and rheumatoid arthritis, " the researchers write.

Currently rheumatoid arthritis affects more than two million people

in the US, according to the American College of Rheumatology.

ls of the Rheumatic Diseases 2000;59;631-635.