February
2008
Growing Gout Problem Linked to Sweet Drinks
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The Gout Monster
Did you do a double take on this one? Yes, gout is making an uncomfortable comeback in the U.S., actually doubling in the last few decades. If you always pictured gout as a disease of the Charles Dicken’s era, you’re not alone. It’s likely history buffs knew more about it than health nuts until now. Thanks, in part, to the likes of soda, Sunny D and other sweet drinks, we can all get a lesson in popular medical conditions of the Victorian era. The study comes out of the University of British Columbia.
A surge in the painful joint condition called gout among American men is linked to a rise in drinking sodas and other sugary soft drinks, a study published Friday suggests. The risk of the disease increased in line with the intake of sugar-sweetened soft drinks. Those least likely to develop gout were men who drank less than one serving per month. Compared with that group, men who drank five to six servings a week were 29 percent likelier to develop gout. This probability rose to 45 percent among those who had one serving per day, and to 85 percent among those who drank two servings or more. The risk was proportionately higher among drinks containing fructose as a sweetener rather than sugar.
via Yahoo! News
The findings are dramatic, to say the least. Since we’ve been talking a lot lately about methodology, it’s worth mentioning a few key components of this research. Though the study used self-report diet questionnaires, the large subject base (more than 51,000 men) and extensive time span (12 years total) are certainly compelling factors. As a merely interesting side note, the subjects were dentists, pharmacists and veterinarians, all professionals with a significant science based background and familiarity with research methodology.
And, well, I just have to say the results seem to make sense, don’t they? We talk ad nauseum about the inherent evils of sugars here, I know. Incidentally, diet sodas didn’t increase the risk for gout, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to give a big endorsement for Franken-foods as a sugar substitute. And this is the real kicker: we’ve known that fructose has been tied to increased uric acid, but protein has traditionally gotten the blame. This study offers the chance for a reassessment of these dietary associations.
I have to say, these kinds of studies make our message seem both a little easier and even more important to put out there. People shouldn’t have to develop these kinds of conditions. Their lives shouldn’t be sidetracked like this.
Gout is, admittedly, a novel twist on all the sugar scenarios we discuss, but it’s nothing to shake a stick at. Caused by the an excess of uric acid in the blood that then crystallizes and builds up in the joints, gout wreaks havoc, often causing a person an immense amount of pain, swelling, and even deformity.
Gout has also been associated with the simultaneous development of other conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes and renal disorders. On top of it all, research at Johns Hopkins tied the elevation of uric acid to successive mini-strokes.
Oddly enough, sometimes the advent or return of unusual conditions (like gout) gets people’s attention more than continued warnings about fatal but “run-of-the-mill” effects like heart disease. Will a surge in gout make a person stop and think about drinking a second can of soda each day? Will anything?
Further Reading:
Smart Fuel: Pineapple, Bromelain and Gout
That’s Fit: Coffee Helps Prevent Gout
Technorati Tags: gout, sugary drinks, soda, fructose, uric acid, renal disorders, blood pressure, diabetes, Johns Hopkins, University of British Columbia, BMJ
I guess it’s a good thing that I imbibe huge amounts of aspartame, then. Haha. And that I avoid high fructose corn syrup.
I may get some terrible cancer, but I sure won’t get gout! =)
Loren Cordain wrote a great article on gout. Worth a read:
http://www.thepaleodiet.com/newsletter/newsletters/PDN_Vol2No4.pdf
Men who drink less than one soda a month? Who the heck is that? Any study that draws conclusions from such a small, self-selected subset of the population is meaningless. Guys who drink no soda are just plain _weird_, and probably have many other unusual habits and dietary patterns, which may be why they don’t get gout.
These studies suggest that if you change the one thing — give up soda — your chances of gout will decrease. But they haven’t proven that, and any interpretation of the study that says they have is sloppy.
By the way, gout is associated with obesity. Drinking soda is associated with obesity. Skinny people are less like to drink soda. Isn’t that all there is here?
If you can drink soda and stay thin, no gout.
The interpretation of the study isn’t just about soda. It’s about sugar (in its many forms) in general. The sugar content of drinks such as soda is enormous, and it’s one key piece.
… And fat people eat a lot of sugar. The study abstract said they gave questionnaires to gout victims about their food and there was an association with sugar and soft drink consumption. Association means correlation, not causation. Causation is obesity. Sugar and obesity are associated also. Gout and eating foods with red packaging is also associated. This study is silly, and shows what happens when M.D.s start to think they’re epidemiologists. They don’t know what they’re doing, and they should go back to treating the gout symptoms, which is what they’re trained for.