Gout research turns to dairy products

Dairy protein may have potential as a "protective" food for people suffering gout, say American health researchers, who also note that Maori have one of the highest rates of the disease in the world.

"Gout has become epidemic among some native peoples, such as the Maori of New Zealand, since the introduction of Western culture and dietary habits," researchers Dr Richard Johnson, a nephrologist at Florida University, and Dr Bruce Rideout, a veterinarian at the Zoological Society of San Diego, said in a New York Times report this week.

Their report accompanied a study led by Dr Hyon K. Choi, a rheumatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who documented the development of gout in 730 initially healthy professionals over 12 years.

That study was to test longstanding assumptions about the relationship between the consumption of foods rich in the amino acids (called purines) and the risk of developing gout.

Dr Johnson and Dr Rideout said the former traditional diet of lean and strong Maori - kumara, fern root, birds and fish - had been replaced by a diet high in fatty meats and carbohydrates.

Gout was also once rare among non-Western immigrants to the United States. "But the adoption of Western diets has changed all this; now gout is more common among blacks in the United States than among whites."

The researchers said gout was no longer a disease of the wealthy - its traditional stereotype - but its appearance reflected an increase in access to fatty meats and a decrease in the intake of dairy products worldwide associated with Westernisation.

The Boston study found a high intake of vegetable protein was protective, but dairy protein was most protective, cutting the risk of gout nearly in half, on average.

The more low-fat dairy products consumed, the lower the risk, the New York Times reported.

However rheumatology researcher Dr Peter Gow, of Middlemore Hospital, cautioned that for a definite understanding that low-fat dairy produce could have a protective role, further research would need to be carried out to rule out the influence of "over-nutrition" and other factors.

He said there could be scope for a pilot study of volunteers in New Zealand to test whether it would be worthwhile trying to duplicate the Boston study in this country.

Dr Gow said he did not stress giving up purine-rich vegetables when talking to his patients; it was more important to focus on shellfish, red meat and alcohol which tended to trigger gout attacks in people with high levels of uric acid.

It was not yet clear whether the link between gout and Maori was genetic or environmental, as gout had been linked to insulin resistance, he said.

What is gout?

* Gout is an inflammatory form of arthritis, which results from a buildup of uric acid in the blood to a point where it can no longer remain in solution and instead forms crystals that lodge in the joints.

* These crystals form most often in the big toe, but sometimes in the ankles, knees, wrists, fingers and elbows. They produce crippling pain, often overnight, followed by warmth, swelling, and extreme tenderness of the affected joint.

* The pain can be so severe that a blanket, clothing or even a breeze across the inflamed joint can seem unbearable.

* Attacks typically last for hours or days, with or without treatment, although some people suffer for weeks.

- NZPA