Sugary beverages 'a trigger for gout': Soft drinks, fructose and beer to blame for rise in patients with 'kings' disease'

• Number of gout patients has nearly doubled since 1970s
• Modern causes are sweet drinks, fructose, beer and medication

Gout, once the disease of kings, is on the increase, and sugary soft drinks as much as whisky and wine may be to blame, research claims.

The number of patients  has nearly doubled since the 1970s and the painful  disease is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis in men.

One person in 35 is now affected, according to the research into the prevalence and causes of gout.

Historic sufferers such as King Henry VIII may have developed the condition from fine dining on meat and port, but today’s victims may be more likely to get it from sugar-sweetened soft drinks, fructose and beer, or as a side effect of medications. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2664504/Sugary-beverages-trigger-gout-Soft-drinks-fructose-beer-blame-rise-patients-kings-disease.html