Alcohol eases rheumatoid arthritis: study

PARIS — Drinking alcohol may help reduce the severity of rheumatoid arthritis and cut the risk of developing the painful and crippling disease, a study published Wednesday has shown for the first time.Researchers led by Gerry Wilson, a professor at the University of Sheffield in Britain, asked 873 arthritis patients and a control group of 1,004 people how frequently they had consumed alcohol in the previous month.The participants also completed a detailed questionnaire, were given X-rays and blood tests, and had their joints examined."We found that patients who had drunk alcohol most frequently had symptoms that were less severe than those who had never drunk alcohol or only drunk it infrequently," said lead author James Maxwell, a rheumatologist at the Rotherham Foundation NHS Trust.X-rays showed less damage to joints, and blood tests showed lower levels of inflammation, according to the report, published in the journal Rheumatology.There was also less pain, swelling and disability.Earlier studies had reported similar results in rodents, but this is the first to show that arthritis symptoms diminish in humans in proportion to the frequency of alcohol consumption.The researchers found that non-drinkers were four times more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis that people who drank alcohol on more than ten days a month.They cautioned that any possible benefits from alcohol consumption in relation to rheumatism must be weighed against all the well-known health consequences of immoderate drinking.The findings held equally true for women and men, and for two distinct forms of the disease, one called anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) and the other known simply as "negative"."Anti-CCP antibodies are not present in most 'normal' people without arthritis," explained Maxwell.Previous research has shown that these antibodies develop prior to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, and are likely linked to the process which causes the disease.Some patients don't develop anti-CCP antibodies, but the symptoms

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