A Dietary Approach to Reducing Gout Risk
The benefits of the DASH diet for people with gout.
The Problem
Gout is the most common type of inflammatory arthritis and is caused by high levels of uric acid in the blood. People with gout also have a higher risk of heart disease. For gout, a diet low in purine is recommended (e.g, avoiding red meat, seafood, and beer) because purine is a source of uric acid. However, this often leads to people replacing protein-rich food with foods high in refined sugars and unhealthy fats, which are bad for the heart.
The Solution
Some diets proven beneficial to reduce heart disease also lower serum uric acid levels such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet. It is key to analyze if this diet could help prevent or treat gout.
What the Study will do
This study compared the risk of developing gout in people with a diet similar to the DASH diet, compared to people with a more “Western” diet – rich in red meats, carbohydrates and sugars, to see if the DASH diet could prevent gout.
The Research Study
The research team analyzed 26 years of data on 44,444 men without gout and found that men with a higher DASH diet score had a 32% lower risk of gout, while men with a higher “Western” diet score had a 42% higher risk of gout.
The DASH diet is designed to promote heart health and encourages foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and low-fat dairy, and recommends limiting items like salt, sweets, and red meat.
Some general DASH diet recommendations include:
- Plenty of Fruits & Vegetables
- Whole grains such as whole wheat, brown rice and quinoa instead of refined grains
- Include lean proteins such as fish, chicken, beans, and nuts
- Limit sodium intake
- Choose low-fat dairy products
- Avoid or limit saturated fats
- Limit intake of sweets and sugary drinks
The DASH diet offers a holistic approach to gout prevention and treatment that has overall health benefits in addition to addressing gout risk, and that is more sustainable than simply attempting to reduce purine-rich foods.
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More Gout Research
- Reducing Body Fat helps to Minimize the Risk of Developing Gout, Especially in Women
- Diabetes Medication Could Be Beneficial For People With Gout
- A New Colour-Coded Imaging Method to Diagnose Gout
- Management of gout from the patient perspective
- A patient/rheumatologist/pharmacist/dietician team use electronic communication to better manage gout
Research Scientist
Hyon Choi
Research Scientist, Rheumatology, MD, DrPH, FRCPC
Dr. Hyon Choi is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School as well as the Director of Clinical Epidemiology in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Research Scientist at Arthritis Research Canada.
Dr. Choi’s research interests lie in core issues of rheumatic disorders ranging from common inflammatory arthritis (e.g. gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis) to rare but serious inflammatory conditions (e.g. systemic vasculitis).
Natalie McCormick
Research Trainee BSc, MSc, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Natalie is a Research Fellow in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital under the supervision of Arthritis Research Canada Research Scientist Dr. Hyon Choi. For her Ph.D., which she completed at The University of British Columbia and Arthritis Research Canada (supervisors Antonio Aviña-Zubieta and Carlo Marra), she examined the little-known economic burden of systemic lupus erythematosus and related systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) on Canadian patients and society. She used administrative data from the British Columbia Ministry of Health to assess the direct medical costs of SARDs and survey data she collected from a sample of BC residents with and without SARDs to assess the costs of time missed from paid and unpaid work activities.
In her post-doctoral fellowship, Natalie is building upon her skills in analyzing large data sets to assess the natural history, long-term effects of medications, and contributors to negative outcomes in patients with lupus and other forms of inflammatory arthritis. Natalie held a CIHR Doctoral Research Award during her Ph.D. and has been granted a three-year CIHR Fellowship Award for her post-doctoral research.
