People with gout may need to steer clear of meat and sea-food, researchers warn today.
Chemicals called purines found in meat are strongly linked to gout flare-ups, according to researchers.
The findings come from a detailed study of more than 600 people with gout who were asked to report times of attacks and their eating habits over the course of a year.
The patients reported more than 1,200 attacks, mostly in the toes.
The study, reported in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, found that on average patients had eaten 25 per cent more purine than average in the two days before an attack.
Purines are found in meat, offal and seafood but also in beans, peas, lentils, spinach and alcohol.
The researchers said the risk of an attack was greatest when people had eaten high quantities of purines in meat.
Researcher Dr Yuqing Zhang, Boston University School of Medicine, USA, said: "Avoiding or reducing purine-rich food intake, especially of animal origin, may help reduce the risk of recurrent gout attacks."
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases May 31 2012: doi 10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-201215
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