A Martini a Day Keeps Arthritis Away?

While your doctor may not give you a prescription for a daily martini, having a regular dose of alcohol just may provide some protection against rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its side effects. Research, published today in the U.K. journal Rheumatology, found that alcohol not only helped to prevent the onset of RA but could alleviate the symptoms associated with what is often a debilitating condition.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disease that affects the entire system of the body. RA causes pain, stiffness, swelling and loss of motion in the joints. It is an autoimmune disease in which a person's immune system attacks the tissue that lines the joints, called the synovium, causing inflammation and tissue overgrowth. It is currently estimated that there are 21 million rheumatoid arthritis (RA) sufferers worldwide. While there is no “cure” there are ways to reduce inflammation and symptoms, through nutrition, drug therapy, supplements, and exercise.

Researchers in Sheffield, England conducted a study comparing 873 RA patients with a  control group of 1004 non-RA sufferers. After a physical, which included blood tests, X-rays and joint examinations, participants answered a questionnaire about alcohol use.

Results of X-ray images showed that “there was less damage to joints, blood tests showed lower levels of inflammation and there was less joint pain, swelling and disability” among drinkers,” according to James Maxwell, a rheumatologist at the Rotherham Foundation NHS Trust and author of the study.

Non-drinkers were four times more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than people who drank alcohol more than 10 days a month. In the patients who already had RA, those who drank regularly had less severe symptoms than non-drinkers. Alcohol blunts the activity of the immune system, although more research is needed to determine how that process works, the researchers said.

“We know that alcohol reduces immune activity at least to some extent, and suspect that this is the main reason that alcohol consumption is associated with a reduction in severity of RA,” stated Maxwell. "Alcohol may also have a mild pain-killing effect."