Association between beverage consumption and risk of rheumatoid arthritis

A study in France assessed the relationship between consumption of commonly consumed beverages (coffee, tea, alcohol, and soft drinks) and the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Data was from the E3N Study (Étude Épidémiologique auprès des femmes de la Mutuelle Générale de l’Éducation Nationale) a French prospective cohort including 98,995 women since 1990. Food and beverage consumption was assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Hazard ratios (HR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) for incident RA were estimated.
Among 62,631 women, 481 incident RA cases were identified. Consumptions of tea, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened soft drinks were not associated with RA risk. A linear association was observed between coffee consumption and RA risk (≥4 cups/day vs ≤1cup/day, HR = 1.24; 95% CI [0.94; 1.64]), and a higher risk of RA with artificially-sweetened soft-drinks consumption (consumers vs not, HR = 1.66; 95% CI [1.12; 2.45]), particularly in never-smokers. Among ever-smokers, moderate liquor intake was associated with a reduced risk of RA (1-3 glasses/week vs non-consumers, HR = 0.63; 95% CI [0.43; 0.91]) and moderate wine consumption with a reduced risk of seropositive RA.
In a large cohort of women, tea, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened soft drinks consumption was not associated with RA risk, whereas consumptions of coffee (especially caffeinated coffee), and artificially-sweetened soft drinks were associated with higher RA risk, particularly among never-smokers. If further confirmed, these results could lead to novel mechanistic hypotheses and to simple prevention measures, the study authors say.
Source: Ascione S, Barde F, Artaud F, Nguyen Y, Macdonald C, Mariette X, Boutron-Ruault MC, Sal-liot C, Seror R. Association between beverage consumption and risk of rheumatoid arthritis: a pro-spective study from the French E3N Cohort. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2022 Sep 30:keac544. .