As anyone who has -- or knows someone who has -- Rheumatoid Arthritis, it can prevent the sufferer from leading a normal life. It is a condition of unknown cause that can vary in intensity from a short, self-limiting illness to a long term, progressively worsening illness. Initially, treatments are light, aiming to remedy joint stiffness and inflammation. In the chronic cases, the inflammation can become worse, requiring a whole range of treatments including steroids, joint replacement and fusion ok bones. The joints of the body can become deformed and strength dwindles, leaving the sufferer unable to open even a bottle of milk or turn on a tap. You have good days and you have bad days.

"You are what you eat" is a clich, but very true. Certain foods are thought to exacerbate Rheumatoid Arthritis, for example, dairy produce. Rheumatoid arthritis occurs predominantly in developed countries where a large part of the diet is animal and the aforementioned dairy produce. Even if someone is only mildly allergic to dairy, this can cause antioxidant levels to fall, antibodies are produced in response and these, for whatever reason, attack the joints. So keeping a diary of foods may help to pinpoint what triggers the bad days.

So, if food seems to be the trigger, reducing dairy foods and increasing antioxidants in your diet may help. But how to get more antioxidants? The tastiest ways are probably to eat plenty of fresh vegetables and drink a few cups of green tea each day. Why is green tea better than 'normal' tea? The tea that most westerners are used to is black tea. Whilst that is a better for you than coffee, it is not as beneficial as green tea. The reason? Black tea has been fermented; green tea has not, thus leaving the key chemicals intact.

But what evidence is there that green tea can actually benefit Arthritis sufferers? Studies in mice suggest that green tea antioxidants may have a powerful effect in reducing the incidence and severity of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Polyphenols (antioxidants found in green tea) possess much more potent antioxidant activity than well-known antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E. A research team from Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio has focused on the effect of these polyphenols in Rheumatoid arthritis. Mice studied by the Cleveland researchers were fed either plain water or water enriched with green tea polyphenols. The doses were about equivalent to a human drinking 3-4 cups of green tea per day. Each of the mice was then injected with collagen, making them vulnerable to a condition very similar to human Rheumatoid Arthritis. The study indicated that the mice who had been given the green tea polyphenols "were significantly less susceptible to the development of collagen-induced arthritis, and if they developed arthritis, the disease was late in onset and mild in comparison to mice not given green tea polyphenols". (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 1999;96:4524-4529).

There are other benefits too - in another study in the US it has been shown that drinking at least one cup of green tea per day can reduce the risk of heart attack by 44%. This health benefit is thought to come from flavanoids, a type of antioxidant found in all types of tea. Flavanoids are thought to neutralise the effect of free radicals, highly reactive molecules that travel round the body causing damaging chemical reactions to cells, including those in the heart tissues. A previous Dutch investigation of more than 800 men between 65 and 84 showed that drinking even more tea - between three and four cups a day - decreased risk of death from coronary heart disease by 58%. In 1991 there were just 153 studies on tea, while in 1998 there were 625 published papers. In a Japanese study, tea without sugar has been found to be good for teeth and gums. Tea contains tannin fluoride which appears to help prevent plaque. "An increase of just one cup a day could prove invaluable in the fight against gum disease," said the British Dental Health Foundation