Once again the health benefits of coffee have been mooted. Recently there have been discussions on the positive effects of coffee on liver disease and female memory. Now there is some early evidence that coffee can help us avoid gout.
The bottom line is that if you drink four more cups of coffee per day then you can reduce your chances of getting gout? At least, this is what the research tells us. This particular study was conducted in Canada against a generally recognised background of advice to actually avoid coffee in people particularly prone to gout.
Gout is a painful joint condition brought about by the build up in the blood of a chemical called uric acid. The study looked at about 50,000 men who had no prior history of gout. Caffeinated coffee appeared to be an avoiding factor but interestingly, so did the decaffeinated variety. Drinking tea conferred no benefit whatsoever.
This is interesting work although the authors would state that such early evidence is not conclusive. More research is needed to determine the precise mechanisms whereby coffee interacts with the uric acid metabolic pathway.
However, the study appeared to be no fluke. The actual level of uric acid in the blood of these men was indeed lower. And it is the uric acid levels themselves that makes a person more prone to gout. There is no evidence that caffeine itself reduced uric acid levels (hence the connection with decaffeinated coffee) but rather some other component of the drink that affects the uric acid levels.