If you have ever had an attack of gout, you may take some comfort in the fact that your condition is one that several famous people had at some time in their lives. Among these include King Henry VIII, Karl Marx, President Thomas Jefferson, writers Wilkie Collins and Samuel Johnson, and statesman Benjamin Franklin.

Gout has been considered the disease of kings' because of the dietary risk factors that may cause the condition. Daniel J. DeNoon, writing for WebMD Medical News, said, "The stereotype of a gout sufferer is a middle-aged man who drinks too much, has high blood pressure, diabetes, and high levels of fats in his blood." These are risk factors, but there are others.

To understand some of these risk factors, you must first know what gout is. Gout is described as an excruciating form of arthritis. In a gout sufferer, uric acid that normally passes from the body in the urine crystallizes instead. Joints in the lower body can be the location of the gouty arthritis but most often it is in the joints of the big toe that the stiffness, swelling, pain, and inflammation makes itself known.

One of the risk factors for gout is renal dysfunction which reduces the amount of urine produced. Other diseases or conditions like diabetes, arteriosclerosis (narrowed arteries), and hypertension (high blood pressure) may predispose a person to gout. A dehydrated state may precipitate an attack.

Gout is not gender-specific regardless of the stereotype. Men between the ages of 40 and 50 as well as post-menopausal women can get gout. Genetics seem to play an important part, too. According to healthgate.partners.org, six to eighteen percent of all persons who get gout have relatives who have had the condition.

Some medications also increase the probability of getting gouty arthritis. Cancer treatments like chemotherapy or radiation, low dose aspirin, the vitamin niacin, and diuretics are cited as risk factors. Exposure to lead may also predispose a person to gout. In older houses, lead pipes allow significant levels of lead to enter a person through tap water.

Diet, as in most medical conditions, plays a very important role in the development of gout. Some foods like beef, organ meats, shellfish, and fish contain high levels of a chemical known as purine. This is the reason that gout is known as the disease of the wealthy; the wealthy are most likely to be able to afford the types of foods that predisposes a person to gout. High fat dairy products and alcohol consumption also contribute. Beer more than wine and two or more drinks per day play a part in gout.

Of course, the foods and alcohol mentioned in the previous paragraph will cause obesity, the last of the risk factors. An adult who gains twenty to thirty pounds increases his risk for developing gout.

Gout is a very painful condition but some risk factors like obesity, diet, and alcohol use can be regulated so that a person may not suffer from it.

Learn more about this author, Sandra Petersen.
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