The Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm conducted a study which shows that people who use to drink alcohol may decrease their risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. The study involved 2750 people. 1,650 of them had arthritis.

Alcohol has been proven to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. This recent study shows drinking may also reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis by up to 50%. This finding emphasizes the importance of lifestyle factors in the development of rheumatoid arthritis.

"Moderate alcohol consumption is not deleterious and may in some contexts be beneficial concerning risk for future onset of rheumatoid arthritis. In addition, our paper underlines that smoking may trigger development of rheumatoid arthritis," stated lead researcher Henrik Kallberg.

All the participants in the study were asked about their lifestyles, including how much they smoked and drank. Also, their blood was analyzed to check for genetic risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system uses its own antibodies to attack joints, causing pain and swelling and loss of function in joints. The causes of the disease aren't known, but researchers suspect there is a strong genetic component as well as lifestyle factors.

However, researchers do not recommend drinking to hamper developing rheumatoid arthritis, as this habit endangers seriously one’s health on overall.