Tea v coffee and rheumatoid arthritis

Female tea drinkers have an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis compared with non-tea drinkers, while women who drink coffee showed no increased risk according to new research from the USA.

Tea or coffee – which increases the risk of rheumatoid arthritis?

A study of 76,643 women showed a positive association of incident of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in tea drinkers with an increasing Hazard Ratio observed alongside tea consumption. Women who drank more than four cups a day were at higher risk compared to those who drank no tea, but consuming any amount of tea increased the risk of developing RA.

Scientists also analysed the method of preparation of coffee – filtered v unfiltered – and found no increase in the development of RA in women who drank coffee compared to those that didn’t. The presence of caffeine showed no correlation with RA or Systematic Lupus Erythematosus or SLE – an autoimmune disease where the immune system harms the body’s own healthy cells and tissues.

“We set out to determine whether tea or coffee consumption, or the method of preparation of the drinks was associated with an increased risk of RA or SLE – it is surprising that we saw such differences in results between tea and coffee,” said Professor Christopher Collins, assistant professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Centre.

Professor Collins said he wonders if there is an ingredient in tea, or if the method of preparation caused the increased risk.

The data was taken from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study database – a 15-year research program to address the most common causes of death, disability and poor health in postmenopausal women – where women aged between 50 and 79 completed a self-administered questionnaire on their daily tea and coffee habits.

“These are very interesting findings and we hope additional research will investigate this topic further,” said Professor Paul Emery, arc professor of Rheumatology at Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, and president of EULAR – the European League Against Rheumatism.