Two glasses of orange juice a day 'doubles gout risk in women'

By SOPHIE BORLAND

Researchers warn that women should cut back on orange juice and fizzy drinks to reduce their risk of gout


Women who drink just two glasses of orange juice a day are twice as likely to get gout, scientists claim.

Women who drank two glasses a day were two and a half times more at risk of the painful condition – the same as if they drank two cans of sugary soft drink.
Even one glass of juice raised their risk by 40 per cent.

Gout, a form of arthritis, affects 1.5 per cent of Britons, with men four times more likely to suffer from the condition. But the number of female cases has doubled in the last 20 years.

Experts believe the high fruit sugar, or fructose, content of juice causes uric acid – a waste product in the blood – to leach into joints, causing them to become swollen and very painful.

The University of Boston study followed the diet habits of 80,000 women over 22 years. Those who drank a daily glass of orange juice were 41 per cent more at risk of gout. Those who had two or more were 2.4 times at risk.

Women who had a daily can of a soft drink were 70 per cent more likely to get gout. Those who had two were 2.4 times more at risk – the same as juice. The results ‘support the importance of reducing fructose intake’, the experts said.

Gout is often linked to an overindulgent diet which includes too much alcohol or red meat. It was common among wealthy, portly gentlemen in the Tudor, Georgian and Victorian eras.

Last year the same team of scientists found that gout affected 3.5 per cent of women aged 60 to 69, 4.6 per cent of those aged 70 to 79 age group, and 5.6 per cent of those over 80.


source: dailymail

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