Researchers led by Gerry Wilson, a professor at the University of Sheffield in Britain, asked 873 arthritis patients and a control group of 1,004 people how frequently they had consumed alcohol in the previous month.

The participants also completed a detailed questionnaire, were given X-rays and blood tests, and had their joints examined.

"We found that patients who had drunk alcohol most frequently had symptoms that were less severe than those who had never drunk alcohol or only drunk it infrequently," said lead author James Maxwell, a rheumatologist at the Rotherham Foundation NHS Trust.

X-rays showed less damage to joints and blood tests showed lower levels of inflammation, according to the report, published in the journal Rheumatology.

There was also less pain, swelling and disability.

Earlier studies had reported similar results in rodents, but this is the first to show that arthritis symptoms diminish in humans in proportion to the frequency of alcohol consumption.

The researchers found that non- drinkers are four times more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than those who drink alcohol on more than 10 days a month.

They cautioned that any possible benefits from alcohol consumption in relation to rheumatism must be weighed against all the well-known health consequences of immoderate drinking.

The findings hold equally true for women and men, and for two distinct forms of the disease, one called anti- cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP).

"Anti-CCP antibodies are not present in most `normal' people without arthritis," Maxwell said.

Previous research has shown that antibodies develop before the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, and are likely linked to the process which causes the disease.

Some patients do not develop anti- CCP antibodies, but the symptoms are much more severe in those that do.

"There is some evidence that alcohol suppresses the activity of the immune system, and that this may influence the pathways by which rheumatoid arthritis develops," Maxwell said.

Once the disease has developed, it is also possible that drinking may act as a painkiller, he added.

Exactly what causes the disease remains a mystery, and there is no known cure.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE