Lower gout risk for coffeeholics

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/6690595.stm

Lower gout risk for coffee lovers

Drinking four or more cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of having a painful attack of gout, say Canadian scientists.

A University of British Columbia team found blood uric acid levels - which are linked to the condition - were lower in people who drank more coffee.

But tea had no measurable effect, suggesting that the active ingredient was not caffeine.

The work is published in the journal Arthritis Care and Research.

Condition of the joints

Gout affects about 600,000 people in the UK, with numbers thought to be increasing in recent years.

Its symptoms, which are often joint pains in the lower limbs, happen when uric acid crystallises out of the blood into the joints.

Drinking too much beer, or eating too much red meat are thought to be to blame for many cases.

The main way to tackle the condition is to take anti-inflammatory pills, change diet and drink more water, or in more severe cases, to take more powerful drugs to reduce uric acid levels in the blood.

The latest research looked at the eating habits of 14,000 men and women between 1988 and 1994.

This information was compared with the results from blood tests for uric acid.

No caffeine link

The researchers found that those who drank four or more coffees a day were more likely to have a much lower uric acid level in the blood, compared with those who drank one or fewer cups.

Tea had no measurable effect but decaffeinated coffee did, suggesting that the active ingredient was not caffeine.

The team claim that coffee drinking can lead to lower insulin levels in the blood, and that there is an established link between higher insulin levels and higher uric acid levels.

The results back the findings of an earlier, much smaller, Japanese study.

Dr Andrew Bamji, a consultant rheumatologist and President of the British Society of Rheumatology, said: "There is no reason why coffee consumption shouldn't have an effect on blood uric acid levels - although this is the first study I've seen which comes to this conclusion."

However, he said that there was no certainty that high blood uric acid levels - the only test carried out by the researchers - would cause gout.

"Some people have elevated uric acid levels throughout life without ever having an attack of gout," he said.

[MissStacey 1]

Coffee Good.

Gout Bad.

[Aymerlu 3]

Just another reason for me to drink coffee

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I should be in good shape then.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Just so nobody gets any false security about gout and coffee drinking...

A number of risk factors are related to the development of high levels of uric acid, or hyperuricemia, and gout:

* Genetics may play a role in determining a person's risk, since up to 18% of people with gout have a family history of the disease.

* Gout is more common in men than in women and more common in adults than in children.

* Being overweight increases the risk of developing hyperuricemia and gout because there is more tissue available for turnover or breakdown, which leads to excess uric acid production.

* Drinking too much alcohol can lead to hyperuricemia because it interferes with the removal of uric acid from the body.

* Eating too many foods rich in purines can cause or aggravate gout in some people.

* An enzyme defect that interferes with the way the body breaks down purines causes gout in a small number of people, many of whom have a family history of gout.

* Exposure to lead in the environment can cause gout.

Some people who take certain medicines or have certain conditions are at risk for having high levels of uric acid in their body fluids. For example, the following types of medicines can lead to hyperuricemia because they reduce the body's ability to remove uric acid:

* Diuretics, which are taken to eliminate excess fluid from the body in conditions like hypertension, edema, and heart disease, and which decrease the amount of uric acid passed in the urine;

* Salicylates, or anti-inflammatory medicines made from salicylic acid, such as aspirin;

* The vitamin niacin, also called nicotinic acid;

* Cyclosporine, a medicine used to suppress the body's immune system and control the body's rejection of transplanted organs; and

* Levodopa, a medicine used to support communication along nerve pathways in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/923886509.html