Gout and Coffee Consumption: The Answer to a Prayer or Infernal Curse?
The smell of freshly ground coffee wafting through your kitchen in the morning – few of life's simple pleasures can quite match it. But did you know drinking that cup o' joe in the morning, and all day long for that matter, could actually be giving your gout symptoms a real benefit? New research into the coffee-crazed consumption of American coffee drinkers and the risks of developing gout seem to show that the more coffee you drink, the less risk you put yourself at for developing the torturously painful joint condition.
There have been two important and well-devised studies regarding the relationship of gout and coffee that demonstrated that drinking four or more cups of coffee each day dramatically reduced the chances of suffering from gout in men, and that uric acid levels were lowered significantly with increasing coffee intake for both men and women alike.
The risk of gout was found to be a impressive 40% lower for men who drank four to five cups of coffee per day, and a whopping 59% decreased risk for men who drank six or more cups per day than compared to men who never drank coffee. This gout and coffee study also indicated a more modest risk associated with drinking decaffeinated coffee as well. The results found in these studies of gout and coffee were separate from any other risk factors four gout, including history of hypertension, alcohol consumption, body mass index, or a diet high in red meats and high-fat dairy products. Drinking tea or consuming caffeine from other sources did not have any impact on decreasing the risk of gout within the members of the study participant group.
Another study on the relationship of gout and coffee featured participants who were given a food questionnaire to assess their coffee and tea consumption habits over the past month. Uric acid levels were measured using blood and specimen tests obtained from a medical examination. The results indicated that levels of uric acid in the blood decreased with increasing coffee consumption. This did not occur with increasing tea intake. There was also shown to be absolutely no relation between total caffeine intake from other beverages and uric acid levels. This gout and coffee study shows that there seems to be some components within coffee other than caffeine which contribute to lowered uric acid levels in the blood.
It's no suprise that coffee may be a helpful natural remedy for gout. After all, coffee is an herb and there are many other herbs for gout treatment that have been shown to be effective.