Sugary Drinks Raise Gout Risk

Before you have a Coke and a smile, consider this. That sugary-sweet beverage may increase your risk of a painful inflammatory condition called gout.

If you're a Howard Stern fan, you'll remember show hillbilly and drunk, Richard "Its My Favorite" Christy, got gout and he could barely put weight on his smelly foot.

And a new study has found drinking too many sugary drinks, like orange juice and soda, may raise your risk of gout.

Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, experts found women who drank two or more cans of non-diet soda per day were more than twice as likely to develop gout, compared to women who rarely drank soda.

Causes of gout vary; medical conditions like high uric acid, metabolic syndrome, and high blood pressure may lead to gout, so can lifestyle factors, such as poor diet and lack of exercise. Genetics are also a factor.

In the study, women drinking orange juice each day also faced an increased risk of gout, similar to soda. Drinking one soda per day increased gout risk by 74%, and drinking 6 ounces of orange juice raised gout risk by 41%.

However, the researchers insist the overall risk of developing gout is very low. Over a 22 year period, only 1% of the 79,000 study participants got gout.

Symptoms of gout may include redness and swollen joints, usually in the feet and big toes, resulting in pain, fatigue, and high fever. An acute outbreak of gout will usually resolve within 5 to 7 days, but medications, like steroids, are often used to relieve symptoms.

Go ahead, read about gout. You'll find out developing gout has a lot to do with your diet, i.e. a bad diet. And since so many Americans eat horribly these days, it's no surprise gout is the latest of our diet-related woes.

Recently a commercial for Uloric, a new gout medication, started airing on television. Initially, I was shocked to see it, but then again, if you look at how people eat and today's obesity epidemic, it's not surprising.

At first, I thought the Uloric ad, with its giant green potion, was an advertisement for World of Warcraft. Plus five to true shot aura!

Image credit: Comedy Central

Health advertising exercise gout Juice Drinks soda 2 Comments Spectra on 21 Nov 2010

It's interesting that gout is making a comeback. It used to be considered a disease that royalty got, probably because back in the day it was the kings and lords and dukes that never had to labor in the fields and couldn't afford rich food. I'm not terribly worried about gout--I eat very little sugar in general and I eat a lot of veggies and fruits. You know, peasant food.

Reply ArrowSmith on 22 Nov 2010

Funny whenever you watch some Hollywood movie that shows a glamorous babe, she's always munching on grapes.

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