That Health Rules

Good news for patients at risk of developing gout because a very common remedy and very affordable at that has been shown to help prevent gout.

A new study published in the latest edition of Archives of Internal Medicine showed a relationship linking higher intake of Vitamin C to lower risk of developing gout:

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Background  Several metabolic studies and a recent double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial have shown that higher vitamin C intake significantly reduces serum uric acid levels. Yet the relation with risk of gout is unknown.

Methods  We prospectively examined, from1986 through 2006, the relation between vitamin C intake and risk of incident gout in 46 994 male participants with no history of gout at baseline. We used a supplementary questionnaire to ascertain the American College of Rheumatology criteria for gout. Vitamin C intake was assessed every 4 years through validated questionnaires.

Results  During the 20 years of follow-up, we documented 1317 confirmed incident cases of gout. Compared with men with vitamin C intake less than 250 mg/d, the multivariate relative risk (RR) of gout was 0.83  for total vitamin C intake of 500 to 999 mg/d, 0.66  for 1000 to 1499 mg/d, and 0.55 (0.38-0.80) for 1500 mg/d or greater. The multivariate RR per 500-mg increase in total daily vitamin C intake was 0.83 . Compared with men who did not use supplemental vitamin C, the multivariate RR of gout was 0.66  for supplemental vitamin C intake of 1000 to 1499 mg/d and 0.55 (0.36-0.86) for 1500 mg/d or greater.

Conclusions  Higher vitamin C intake is independently associated with a lower risk of gout. Supplemental vitamin C intake may be beneficial in the prevention of gout.

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 What the study patients took were supplements of 1,500 mg daily.  What is interesting to note is that for every increase in Vitamin C intake of 500 mg per day, the risk of developing gout was decreased by 17%.

Likewise, those who took the 1500 mg supplemental form of Vitamin C had a 45% lower risk of developing gout than those who took lower doses of Vitamin C.  On the other hand those that took 1000 mg ov Vitamin had a 34% lower risk of developing gout!

It is known that Vitamin C can decrease the levels of uric acid oin the blood by increasing its excretion in the urine.

Does this mean,. we now go ahead and grab more Vitamin Cs in the market? I guess we need to wait for more studies to confirm this finding. 

But to those who continue to believe in Vitamin C and its role in preventing colds, this is one good news!

For me… getting the Vitmain Cs from fruits would be a better option.  Remember one orange can give you 70 mg of Vitamin C already.  Plus the ther benefits of fruit intake!

This entry was posted on March 19, 2009 at 8:20 am and is filed under General Health Tips, Healthy Practice Tips, Medical News Bits.