An apple a day may well keep the doctor away, but could drinking alcohol in moderation reduce the risk of arthritis?
Scientists who carried out a study into alcohol consumption and the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis believe they have found evidence to show it can.
A study of thousands of women in Sweden found that those who drank regularly were less likely to develop the disease than those who rarely drank or did not drink at all.
The findings were based on a questionnaire that asked the women about their drinking habits as well as other factors.
The researchers estimated that two more women is every 10,000 developed rheumatoid arthritis if they drank one glass of alcohol a week than those who drank more than four glasses of alcohol a week.
They found the risk was reduced whether the alcohol consumed was beer, wine or spirits.
The study looked at more than 34,000 women and used data from the national health registries, so is considered to be fairly reliable.
But the questionnaire relied on the ability of women born between 1914 and 1948 to remember, exactly, their drinking habits in 1987 and 1997. This could make the findings unreliable as the women’s memories of the amount they drank in those years may not have been accurate.
During the study, researchers looked at other factors that may affect whether a person develops rheumatoid arthritis, such as their age and whether they smoked. But they were not able to take into account other reasons why the women developed the condition, such as their family history of arthritis.
The effect of heavy drinking on the women’s risk was also not studied.
It may not be wise to reach for the wine bottle in a bid to reduce your risk of developing arthritis, but it is fair to say that most things in moderation should not have a negative impact on your wellbeing.
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