Add gout, a form of arthritis that happens when uric acid builds up in joints, to the growing list of health problems, along with pancreatic cancer and hypertension, associated with drinking soft drinks and fructose-rich products like orange juice.
Researchers discovered the connection after reviewing the health records of nearly 79,000 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study (1984-2006) who provided details about their intake of sweet beverages and fructose and had no history of gout at the start. Over time, almost 800 patients were diagnosed with gout.
Patients who consumed one sweet drink every day were 74 percent more likely to develop gout than those who drank less than one serving per month and 41 percent for orange juice based on those same amounts and intervals, not unsurprising results by a long shot.
Drinking two or more servings of orange juice or soft drinks each day, however, caused those risks of gout to double. Additionally, the top 20 percent of patients who drank the most fructose-laden drinks were 62 percent more likely to deal with gout than those in the lowest quintile who consumed the least amount of the sweet stuff.
Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 304, No. 20, p. 2270-2278, November 24, 2010
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