A very preliminary study suggests women who drink any amount of tea daily – men were not tested – incur a higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). But coffee was not found to be linked to any higher risk of RA, whether the coffee was filtered or unfiltered, caffeinated or without caffeine.
Researchers stressed that the tea-RA effect is not necessarily one of cause-and-effect and were unaware of any specific ingredient in the tea that could affect the onset of RA, which is an autoimmune disorder in which the body’s own immune system attacks the body’s joints and tissue.
Further study is needed because a different study in the journal, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, confirming prior research on tea’s health benefits, found a 36 percent reduced risk of heart disease in those consuming 6 cups of tea a day and a 20 percent reduced risk of heart disease in those consuming less than two cups or more than four cups of coffee daily. Those with rheumatic diseases should consult their Naturopathic or Integrative Physician.
The RA-tea study was presented June 18 in Rome at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism. It has not been published and is not yet available in its full-text version.
