Associations between meat consumption and the prevalence of degenerative arthritis and soft tissue disorders in the adventist health study, california u.s.a.

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between the prevalence of degenerative arthritis and soft tissue disorders and consumption of meat and other foods among participants in the Adventist Health Study. METHODS: Unconditional logistic regression analysis is used to examine cross-sectional associations, adjusting for the effects of age, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, use of sex hormones and parity. RESULTS: The prevalence of degenerative arthritis and soft tissue disorders was 22.60 percent. Women had a higher prevalence than men and prevalence increased greatly with age. Smoking, higher body mass index, never use of contraceptive pills, and current hormone replacement therapy are associated with a higher prevalence of these disorders on multivariate analysis. Multivariate OR’s comparing consumption of meat or= 1/week; with the reference being no meat, were 1.31(95% CI: 1.21,1.43) and 1.49(1.31, 1.70) in women; and 1.19 (95% CI: 1.05,1.34) and 1.43(1.20, 1.70) in men. Dairy fat and fruit consumption were weakly associated with increased risk. There were protective associations with nut and salad consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Greater meat consumption is associated with a higher prevalence of degenerative arthritis and soft tissue disorders in both male and female subjects of this population, as is hormone replacement therapy in women.