Excess Coffee Consumption Could Increase Risk Of Arthritis And Obesity
A new Australian study suggests too many coffees can lead to various health conditions
If coffee has been a constant companion during the lockdown, it might be worth looking again at your caffeine consumption. A new study suggests too many cups can be a culprit for poor health.
The research, from the University of South Australias Australian Centre for Precision Health, suggests that it all comes down to genetics: anyone with a family history of osteoarthritis, arthropathy or obesity may be best to sit out a few of the coffee rounds.
Using data from over 300,000 participants in the UK Biobank, researchers looked at connections between habitual coffee consumption and a full range of diseases, finding that too much coffee can increase the risk of the aforementioned conditions
In earlier research conducted by genetic epidemiologist Professor Elina Hyppönen and team, six cups of coffee a day was considered the upper limit of safe consumption.
Globally, we drink around three billion cups of coffee each day, said Professor Hyppönen, so it makes sense to explore the pros and cons of this on our health.
Typically, the effects of coffee consumption are investigated using an observational approach, where comparisons are made against non-coffee-drinkers. But this can deliver misleading results.
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Canola And Olive Oils
Skip the vegetable oil or corn oil and reach for these two varieties, which have a good balance of the omega-3 and omega-6 acids, both of which are essential fatty acids. Studies have found that a component in olive oil called oleocanthal has anti-inflammatory properties and is known to be especially good for heart health, too, Dunn says.
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Opting For Turf Not Surf
You prefer steak to salmon and burgers over branzino and thats ok now and then. But red meat, as well as poultry and full-fat dairy, contains saturated fats. A diet high in saturated fat is associated with an increase in inflammatory blood markers and a decrease in anti-inflammatory blood markers, explains Taylor. By tailoring your fat intake to include more omega-3 fatty acids and fewer saturated and trans fats, you can alter your bodys inflammatory state, and in turn help your joints, she says.
Enter the surf: Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, trout, herring, sardines, anchovy and branzino contains the most active form of omega-3 fatty acids. Eating 3 to 6 grams a day of omega-3s could reduce the pain of inflammation from RA, according to a study published the journal Nutrition. Dont love fish? Other non-fish omega-3 sources include walnuts, chia seeds, and flaxseed.
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Caffeine And Its Effects On Joint Pain
As a stimulant, caffeine can have multiple effects on your overall health, both positive and negative. A study from 2000 suggested a connection between caffeine and rheumatoid arthritis, a common source of joint inflammation. Subsequent research has produced mixed results. A more recent study in Finland indicates there may be a link between how many cups of coffee people drink daily and their joint pain. In the article below, Los Angeles spine surgeons discuss a few of the ways caffeine can negatively affect joint pain.
Health Benefits Of Tea
Spurred on by promising studies, researchers are also looking at teas ability to:
- Promote heart health. Studies show that tea can help lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels in people with cardiovascular disease.
- Fight cancer. Polyphenols will induce certain tumor cells toward apoptosis , explains Stephen D. Hsu, PhD, a researcher at Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta.
- Improve bone strength. One study found that green tea improves both bone quality and strength. Another found tea drinkers over 50 had a 30%reduced risk of hip fractures.
- Rejuvenate skin cells. Hsu says green tea seems to promote healthy skin cell growth, which could help wound healing and psoriasis.
- Protect the brain. A United Kingdom lab study suggests black and green tea may slow the progression of Alzheimers disease. A German lab study suggests green tea may inhibit the inflammation and neural damage associated with the progression of multiple sclerosis.
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Common Sources Of Caffeine
When most of us think of caffeine, the first thing we imagine is coffee. The average 8-ounce cup of coffee will have around 95 mg of caffeine. Excessive amounts of caffeine, which can range between 250 mg and 400 mg depending on the person, can have harmful side effects like insomnia, headaches, dehydration, and anxiety 3.
Even people without arthritis should avoid drinking more than a few cups daily.
On the bright side, coffee has other nutrients and vitamins that can benefit people with arthritis. They include riboflavin, potassium, magnesium, niacin, and polyphenols. Each of these nutrients can help the body in some way. Many patients with arthritis also suffer from a riboflavin deficiency, a B complex vitamin that may reduce inflammation 4.
Tea is another well-known caffeine source that contains various beneficial nutrients and vitamins. The average 8-ounce cup of tea can have anywhere between 20mg and 60mg of caffeine, depending on the type. It can also contain nutrients like polyphenols, vitamin A, cobalamin, and riboflavin.
Eat And Drink Less Dairy On A Diet For Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis symptoms may flare in response to specific proteins found in dairy products. Some people with rheumatoid arthritis who report intolerance to milk have antibodies to milk proteins, Dr. Michet says. The body forms these antibodies to protect itself from what it mistakenly perceives as a harmful substance, but the antibodies attack other parts of the body in addition to the milk. Cut dairy products from your diet to see if that reduces your RA symptoms.
Try rice, cashew, or almond milk as anti-inflammatory alternatives, says Ulka Agarwal, MD, a staff psychiatrist at George Washington University in Washington, DC, who advocates a vegan diet. Milk may be a food to avoid with arthritis to see if it helps with RA pain.
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Is Coffee Bad In Other Ways
Unfortunately, drinking too much coffee can negatively affect your health. Dehydration of the kidneys can lead to kidney and bladder stones. It can also lead to uncomfortable digestive issues, from diarrhea to constipation. Too much caffeine can also increase your heart rate, leading to cardiovascular issues and high blood pressure. Many people who drink too much coffee feel irritable and nervous. They may also experience tremors and have difficulty sleeping, especially after exceeding the recommended limit of 400 mg of caffeine daily.
Foods To Avoid For Bursitis & Tendinitis
Bursitis and calcific tendonitis are painful conditions that result from inflammation around the joints and tendons. Although treatment consists of rest, medication and physical therapy, an anti-inflammatory diet may help too. Find out what foods to avoid with calcific tendonitis, bursitis or both.
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Tip
To speed up healing from bursitis and tendonitis, avoid sugar, unhealthy fats and processed foods, which have been shown to increase inflammation. The Mediterranean diet has been proven effective against inflammatory conditions, so give it a try.
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Insomnia And Other Side Effects
Overdoing it with caffeine, whether from coffee, other caffeinated beverages, or even chocolate, can sometimes produce unwanted side effects that can increase muscle and joint stiffness. For instance, insomnia or trouble getting enough recuperative sleep each night can exacerbate existing joint issues, especially when first waking up.
Caffeine And Rheumatoid Arthritis Medication
Caffeine is not contraindicated for the common medications taken for RA. Because one side effect of prednisone is insomnia, however, you might want to ditch the java and other highly caffeinated drinks if you are on the steroid and youre having sleep issues.
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If youre taking methotrexate , however, you may actually want to consider adding a little caffeine to your routine. As described in a February 2017 Clinical Rheumatology article, researchers followed people with RA on this disease-modifying antirheumatic drug for nearly a year. They found that of the people who had trouble tolerating the drug because of its unpleasant symptoms, more than half were fine when they took some caffeine, in the form of coffee or dark chocolate, along with their medicine. Another 13 percent experienced partial relief by adding caffeine.
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Caffeine Can Help Reduce Joint And Other Pain
Synopsis: Information regarding the pain relief benefits of caffeine consumption and why caffeine is added to pain relievers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen. In humans, caffeine acts as a central nervous system stimulant, temporarily warding off drowsiness and restoring alertness. Caffeine blocks receptors in the brain called, adenosines, which in turn induce relaxation and activate dopamine chemicals associated with both pain relief and energy.
Osteoarthritis: Articular Cartilage Catabolism
Articular cartilage is a specialized type of hyaline cartilage that covers the contact surfaces of diarthrodial joints . This tissue is devoid of nerves, blood, and lymphatic vessels, which hampers its capacity to be repaired . Articular cartilage is composed of resting chondrocytes and the extracellular matrix , which is mainly composed of water, collagens , Collagen type II alpha 1 , etc.), and proteoglycans ) . The specific composition of the ECM of the cartilage is essential for the maintenance of its unique mechanical properties and is indispensable for guaranteeing chondrocyte survival .
There are several risk factors for OA development, such as certain genetic profiles, gender, aging, ethnicity, exercise, metabolic alterations, alcohol consumption, obesity, coffee intake, and diet . Notably, multiple modifiable risk factors are closely related to dietary habits, which suggests that diet could play a key role in OA pathogeny.
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Is Wd40 Good For Arthritis
WD-40 Company does not recommend the use of WD-40® for medical purposes and knows no reason why WD-40 would be effective for arthritis pain relief. WD-40 contains petroleum distillates and should be handled with the same precautions for any product containing this type of material.
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Cutting Back On Caffeine
If you choose to reduce or cut out caffeine from your diet, do so with your doctors knowledge and guidance. They might suggest doing so slowly to minimize withdrawal symptoms, like headaches. Trading a lower-caffeinated beverage for its counterpart might help you taper off. Green, white, and black teas contain caffeine but much less cup-for-cup than coffee. And post in myRAteam to see what other members have tried.
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Do Coffee Or Tea Cause Ra
In a recent study, researchers evaluated whether daily consumption of coffee or caffeinated non-herbal tea was associated with older onset rheumatoid arthritis . The study authors found no association between coffee and RA, but tea drinkers had increased RA risk.
Data were collected from the Womens Health Initiative Observational Study, a longitudinal, prospective cohort study of women that took place between 1993 and 1998. A total of 76,853 women filled out a survey regarding their daily tea and coffee habits after three years, 185 women self-reported incident RA cases. The researchers implemented Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models to assess any correlation between daily beverage consumption and incident RA, and they calculated trend tests with categorical variables modeled as a continuous variable without collapsing.
Saturated And Trans Fats
Some studies suggest a possible link between chronic inflammation and saturated fats found in red meats, full-fat dairy foods, butter and poultry skin. Similar suggestions have been made for trans fats, found in hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, some margarine brands, French fries and other fried foods.
Monounsaturated fats, namely olive oil, seem less likely to increase inflammation. So far there are no clinical trials that prove this type of heart-healthy diet is good for arthritis.
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Coffee And Ra Medications
Caffeine is a type of drug and it can interact with or worsen the effects of some of the prescription medications you may be taking to manage RA.
Low-dose steroids like prednisone are a common prescription for RA. While prednisone is not a stimulant, it can make you feel jittery and extra alert. Combining this with caffeine may make you hyperactive and affect your sleep quality.
Another medication commonly used for RA is methotrexate . It has some common side effects, including:
According to research, caffeine found in coffee and dark chocolate may help ease some of these side effects. In one study, experts found that caffeine was able to help with severe side effects in 55% of the participants. Around 13% reported partial relief.
Caffeine is also found in several pain relievers to ease headaches or pain. But it increases inflammation, a common problem in RA. If youâre on prednisone or another type of steroid, or plan to take any over-the-counter pain medications, ask your doctor if you should change your coffee routine.
Is Coffee Good For Rheumatoid Arthritis
Coffee consumption has been the subject of much debate. There have been studies suggesting a detrimental effect on cardiovascular health however, simultaneously there is data suggesting an inverse relation between the two. A possible explanation may be that many of these studies did not take into account smoking, which is a huge confounding factor associated with coffee intake.
The mechanism by which caffeine is postulated to affect the immune system is by inhibiting the cAMP phosphodiesterase, thus increasing intracellular cAMP and activating protein kinase A, which in turn affects many immunomodulatory pathways. There have been studies reporting an increase in the incidence of seropositive RA in patients who consume coffee in excess of four cups per day. However, these studies did not report this increase in tea drinkers bringing into question if the association is related to caffeine intake at all. There has been data about an increased incidence of osteoporosis with coffee intake of more than two cups per days. Again, I go with the rule of everything is fine in moderation and recommend my nonpregnant patients to limit consumption to two cups per day. Mikuls T, et al. Arthritis Rheum 46: 83, 2002.
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Caffeine Consumption Associated With Reduced Severity Of Symptoms
Among opioid nonusers who consumed caffeine, patients only had a significant difference in physical function over those who were not taking opioids and did not have caffeine .6
We found it surprising that in fibromyalgia patients not taking opioids, caffeine consumption was only associated with improved physical function, Scott told Practical Pain Management. The authors expected more of an analgesic effect from caffeine consumption in general.
Whereas taking opioids who consumed caffeine reported benefits that had a significant difference on pain interference , pain catastrophizing , and physical function as compared with opioid users who did not consume caffeine.6
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Is Coffee Good For Arthritis: 5 Best Drinks For Arthritis
If you have arthritis, you might also marvel whether or not consuming espresso is advisable or if it may make your situation worse. Coffee is one of the most broadly eaten up liquids globally, and there is frequently dialogue about whether or not it is desirable or horrific for your health.
According to the research, when it comes to arthritis, it turns out espresso has each advantage and risks. Risks and benefits fluctuate relying on the kind of arthritis and whether or not you drink caffeinated or decaf coffee.
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The Mystery Of How Caffeine Helps Pain Remains
The question of how caffeine works to reduce pain or help pain relievers to relieve pain remains. The mechanisms are not well understood. In simple terms caffeine blocks a persons pain receptors.
Do you feel like gambling? Some studies have shown that low doses of caffeine might actually have the opposite effect. Caffeine, according to these studies, inhibits blocking pain receptors yet what does this information mean to you or me? It is possible that a cup of coffee or tea, or small amounts of other foods or beverages containing less than 100 mg of caffeine, might prevent other pain relievers from working! The same inhibitory effect of low doses of caffeine has been observed with electrical stimulation and acupuncture.
Still, researchers are not quite ready to state that people should avoid caffeine prior to using electrical stimulation to control pain, or before acupuncture treatment. Additional studies on the effects of different doses of caffeine are needed before any specific guidelines on caffeine use can be determined. It sounds like 4 cups or more might help, but more studies are needed.
Findings From The Systematic Review
Of 742 records identified, 284 studies were duplicates and 442 studies were excluded during the screening of title and abstract . After reading the full texts of the remaining studies, 11 studies were excluded for the following reasons: the relevant exposure of interest was not reported , the study outcome was not relevant , review articles , and irrelevant study design . Finally, five prospective cohort studies with a total of 266,985 participants were included for meta-analysis. The characteristics of the included studies are shown in Table 1. Total number of cases with RA were 1,018, varying from 69 to 480 in these studies. The studies were conducted from 2000 to 2019 three from the USA , one from Demark and one from Finland . Age at the beginning of the studies ranged from 20 to 98 years, and the median duration of follow-up ranged from 5.3 to 19 years. In terms of exposure assessment, four studies had used food frequency questionnaires and one study used a self-questionnaire and interview for the exposure assessment . All the included studies were of high quality, based on the NOS. Quality assessment of the studies is shown in Table 1.
Figure 1. Study selection process.
Table 1. Characteristics of included prospective cohort studies.
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