(RxWiki News) New research suggests that canned soft drinks may increase a woman's risk for developing gout, a very painful inflammatory arthritis.
Hyon K. Choi, M.D., Dr.P.H., of the Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues examined the relationship between drinking sodas and incidence of gout in a large group of women.
"Women who drink non-diet soda increase their risk of gout."
Choi's data suggests that there may be a correlation between an increase in gout and an increase in soda consumption over the last 30 years. In a 19-year period of time, the incidence of gout went from 16/100,000 in 1977 vs. 42/100,000 in 1996.
The researchers got their data from the Nurses’ Health Study, which was a prospective study lasting 22 years, from 1984-2006.
That period of time also showed a significant increase in soft drink sales.
Data concerning food intake and sodas and fructose consumption was gathered from 78,906 women, who didn’t have gout at the beginning of the study. During 22 years of follow-up, 778 new cases of gout were diagnosed.
The researchers noticed women drinking more soft drinks and orange juice was associated with increasing their risk of gout.
Compared to a woman who doesn't consume soda, a woman who drinks one soda daily had a 74 percent increased risk of gout.
Compared to the same abstainer, a woman who drank two or more soft drinks daily had a 2.4 times higher risk.
Diet sodas did not appear to increase the risk of gout however, however, orange juice did.
When comparing women who drinks orange juice to one who doesn't, the woman who consumes one serving daily had a 41 percent higher risk of gout.
Furthermore, when comparing the same woman who doesn't drink juice to a woman who drinks two or more glasses daily, the second will have a much higher gout risk, about 2.4 times greater.
