Health & Wellness - India Herbs Blog

Study found that those who drank 2 or more servings a day had double the risk.

Think twice before you get that next can of soda.

A new study finds that drinking orange juice, soda and other beverages high in the sugar fructose could increase the small risk that middle-age and elderly women have of developing gout. Gout is a painful form of arthritis caused by too much uric acid in the blood.

For women in the study who drank two or more servings of these beverages per day, the risk of gout was more than double that for women who drank sodas and juices less than once per month.

Because gout is relatively rare among women, the drinks probably contribute only moderately to a woman's chances of developing it. Still, this is the first study linking sodas and sweetened fruit juices to women's gout risk. Previous research found such a link for men.

The study will be published in the Nov. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, and is being presented Wednesday at the American College of Rheumatology annual scientific meeting.

Gout occurs when levels of uric acid in the blood become too high, and uric acid crystallizes around the joints, leading to inflammation, swelling and pain. Foods than can increase the levels of uric acid in the blood include organ meats (such as kidneys and livers), asparagus and mushrooms, according to the Mayo Clinic. Fructose is also known to increase blood uric acid levels, the researchers said.

Rate of gout has doubled in last 20 years

While gout is not common in the United States, the rate of incidences has more than doubled over a 20-year period, from 16 cases per 100,000 Americans in 1977 to 42 per 100,000 in 1996. Over this period, the researchers noted, the population also consumed increasing amounts of soda and other drinks sweetened with fructose.

The new study followed 78,906 women for 22 years, from 1984 to 2006, as part of the Nurses' Health Study. At the beginning of the study, none of the women had gout. By the end, 778 had developed it.

Women who drank one serving of soda per day were 1.74 times more likely to develop gout than those who drank less than one serving per month. Those who drank two or more servings per day were 2.4 times more likely to develop gout.

Drinking two or more servings of soda per day caused an additional 68 cases of gout per 100,000 women per year, compared with drinking less than one serving of soda per month, the researchers said.

Drinking orange juice also increased the risk. Women who drank one serving of orange juice per day were 1.41 times more likely to develop gout, and those who drank two or more servings were 2.4 times more likely to report gout.

Lifestyle and diet

The rise in gout cases is most likely due to changes in lifestyle and diet and an increase in conditions associated with gout, such as metabolic syndrome, said study researcher.

The results held even after the researchers took into account factors that could have influenced the findings, such as age, body mass index and whether the women had gone through menopause.

The findings suggest diets to prevent gout should reduce fructose intake, the researchers said.