This news will dampen some spirits — a new study finds that certain alcoholic beverages can raise the risk of developing gout, a painful form of arthritis.
Men who booze at least five times a week have a two-fold higher risk of gout than those drinking less than once a week, according to researchers from China who analyzed the hootch habits of more than 400,000 UK residents.
For women, more frequent alcohol consumption is associated with a “moderately elevated” risk for gout, per the findings published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.
Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis — it occurs when the waste product uric acid builds up in the joints. About 9.2 million US adults have gout, with celebrities such as Jared Leto, Jim Belushi and Sarah Hyland detailing their experiences.
“There are quite a few risk factors for gout. Some risk factors are genetic. There are some people who have high uric acid, and despite whatever they do, they have a higher risk for gout,” Dr. Diane Horowitz, director of the Northwell Health Rheumatoid Arthritis Center, explained to The Post.
“Men have a higher risk for gout than women do. Women who are postmenopausal have a higher risk than women who are premenopausal,” added Horowitz, who was not involved in the new research. “Certain dietary factors and alcohol consumption and genetics and gender are all associated with gout.”
It’s long been known that alcohol raises the risk of gout, and it can trigger recurrent attacks. Researchers for the new study explored how different alcoholic beverages affect the risk of gout among men and women.
Consumption of champagne, white wine, beer, cider and spirits was linked to a higher risk of gout among both sexes, with beer and cider showing the strongest association, the study found.
Spirits elevated the risk of gout more for women, while red wine brought a “modestly higher” risk of gout for men.
“No significant association was found for fortified wine for either sex,” the researchers wrote.
There were some limitations to the study, including that participants reported their alcohol consumption sometime between 2006 and 2010. It’s unclear how and if their drinking habits changed over time.
Horowitz says gout can be managed with lifestyle changes, such as reducing alcohol consumption, limiting foods associated with gout, including red meat, organ meats and some seafood, and drinking more water.
Plus, there are medications to help prevent gout flares.
“If someone thinks they have gout or they’ve had gout flares before, they should see their primary care doctor or see a rheumatologist and get some help with the gout to prevent future flares and repetitive gout,” Horowitz said. “Flares can cause damage to the bone, so you really want to get on top of this and prevent flares.”
