Gout is a disease, which affects mostly adult men, that causes swollen and painful joints (and eventually inflammatory arthritis) due to production of excessive uric acid that goes into the joints, especially those in the toes and feet.

The researchers, from the Arthritis Research Center of Canada, University of British Columbia in Canada, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, studied nearly 46,000 men, between the ages of 40 and 75 years (a high-risk age range for men), for twelve years.

They found that the men drinking six or more cups of coffee each day were 59% less likely (and those that drank four to five cups were 40% less likely) to develop gout than those men who never drank coffee.

Choi and his fellow coffee collaborators think that the antioxidant phenol cholorogenic acid, which is within coffee, is a possible reason why the coffee-drinking men had a less chance of getting gout than the non-coffee drinking fellows. Other components within coffee could also be factors, too. However, they do not associate caffeine with any gout-resistant abilities.

Over 50% of U.S. citizens drink at least two cups of coffee each day. Coffee is regularly studied and debated in its affect (both negatively and positively) on health conditions in men and women.

The researchers’ results entitled "Coffee Consumption and Risk of Incident Gout in Men: A Prospective Study" appear in the June 2007 issue of the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. The collaborators include Hyon K. Choi, Walter Willett, and Gary Curhan.

[Note from author: As always, in any scientific study, the word “may” does not mean it “will” prevent gout, in this case, only that it might prevent or minimize gout.]

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