Sunday, August 18, 2013

Coffee Causes Arthritis?


There are unfounded statements on the internet today that says, "coffee are bad for arthritis", or worse so, "coffee induces arthritis" or "coffee worsens the prognosis of arthritis" or something else along those lines. So, is a cup of coffee so dreadful for arthritis patients? The answer is NO. When it comes to adverse effects of coffee it is very much a matter of quantity, usually, for an average person, drinking less than 6 cups of coffee per day has no known adverse effects or what so ever, caffeine intoxication or long term side effect due to any other chemical substances in coffee only occur when large quantity of coffee is consumed.

Is there any solid scientific basis to support the fact that coffee isn't the culprit in occurrence of arthritis? The answer is yes, and it lies in the nature of arthritis disease itself. Take for example Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), it is obligatory for both predisposing and triggering factors present at the same time for the disease to occur in a person, predisposing factor is in this case, gene that codes for HLA, while the triggering factors are up to date not clearly understood. Triggering factors can be stress, viral infections other co-morbid diseases, certain food and seasons. Coffee, is being accused by many, as one of the triggering factors, a statement mostly agreed by most sufferers of RA. But do patients themselves understand the mechanism of the disease? Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases Journal. The research study says that people drinking more that 4 cups of coffee daily are at a higher risk of developing RA, but the research is not a scientific research in a true sense, it is simply a survey conducted on a small number of RA patients. So, is this study result reliable?

Consider another research result and judge by yourself the role of coffee in arthritis development. 19000 coffee drinkers picked up randomly from a general population, observed carefully for 15 years, and at the end of 15 years, none of them show any signs of Arthritis. Researchers that initially back the statement - "5 cups of coffee per day double the risk of RA" later withdraw their support, because they found that most of their patients have other triggering factors such as smoking age and high protein diets.

So in conclusion, we can say that, drinking coffee doesn't necessary lead to Arthritis, but as in any other food and drinks, practice moderation.

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