We seem to hear on a regular basis about certain foods being bad for our health. And then they’re not. And then they are. There are so many conflicting studies that it comes to the point that the consumer just ignores them. Here is one of those cases.

In 2000 Doctors at the National Institute of Public Health in Finland published findings of a study that linked consumption of coffee to RA. They monitored a group of 19,000 people over a 15 year period. None of the test group had indication of arthritis at the beginning of the study. Based on survey responses they found that people that drank 4 or more cups of coffee a day were at double the likelihood of developing arthritis than those who consumed less. They also found that people who drank more than 10 cups a day were 15 times as likely to develop RA as non-drinkers. They took into account other factors such as smoking, weight, age and gender. It was pointed out by the coffee industry that at the time the data was collected Scandinavians drank very strong, boiled coffee which is not typically preferred today.

In late 2001 researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham reported that a study of 31,000 women aged 55 to 69 were more than twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis if they drank more than 4 cups a day of decaffeinated coffee. They stated that it may not be the absence of caffeine, but rather the process used to decaffeinate the coffee, that triggers the arthritic response. Another finding in this study is that women that drank more than 3 cups of tea a day had a sixty percent less chance of developing RA than those who did not drink tea. They did not identify if a specific type of tea was more advantageous than another.

Then in a 2004 study, researchers from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Woman’s Hospital discounted the results of the Finnish study saying the there was little evidence that coffee consumption was linked to rheumatoid arthritis. Their study included a follow up survey of over 70,000 participants of a 1980 food frequency questionnaire. They also adjusted the results for other factors including changes in diet, alcohol consumption and oral contraceptive use. They concluded that the data supporting the Finnish study were inconsistent since the information was collected at only one point in time.

Now comes a report that drinking 4 or more cups of coffee a day reduces the risk of gout in men. This is based on two studies that also concluded that levels of uric acid in the blood were significantly lower for men and women with increasing consumption of coffee. The first study conducted by the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada, University of British Columbia, Brigham and Women’s and Harvard Medical school included nearly 46,000 men over age 40 that had no indication of gout. This group was followed over 12 years and was asked to indicate their intake of several different caffeinated and decaffeinated items such as coffee, tea, cola and chocolate. The researchers then determined the relative risk of developing gout related to regular consumption of these foods and beverages. They found that men who drank 4 to 5 cups of coffee a day had a 40 percent lower risk of gout, and men who drank 6 or more cups a day had a 59% reduced risk. The second study gathered information from the participants regarding their coffee and tea consumption over the prior month and then assessed the uric acid level in their blood. This study’s findings were that there was a significant reduction in the uric acid levels with increasing consumption of coffee, but not with tea. However, they did not find a correlation between caffeine consumption and decreased uric acid levels leading them to conclude that there are other components of coffee that lead to the reduced uric acid levels.

So what do we do with this information? File it away under interesting facts. As with most things, moderation is usually the best course of action. It may not help you, but it won’t kill you.