Is Wine OK for Gout?

Advice to avoid alcohol when you have gout has been around for a long time — even medical pamphlets from the 1800’s say it’s best for gout sufferers to stop drinking. However, one of the first large scale medical studies on alcohol and gout only took place in 2004! Published in The Lancet medical journal, the study followed over 47,000 male medical professionals with no history of gout for over 10 years. By the end of the study, an unlucky 2 percent of the men had begun experiencing attacks of gout.

What’s alcohol got to do with it? Men in study who drank the most alcohol daily had twice the risk of developing gout as men who did not drink. However, and this is a big however, beer drinkers increased their risk for gout by 50% for every daily serving, while those who drank hard liquor increased their risk by 15% for each drink.

Beer is Fear

But there was small piece of good news: Men in the study who drank wine only did not increase their risk for gout. Most of these wine drinking men had one or two glasses of vino daily.

Researchers have some ideas why beer is so bothersome for gout . . .  it could be due to beer’s relatively high purine content compared to wine and liquor, or it could have something to do with the high gluten content of beer that contributes to inflammation. Because alcohol is a diuretic, dehydration caused by excessive alcohol consumption could also be a contributing factor.

Wine is Fine (with moderation)

Whatever is behind this beer-gout connection, the results of this study led researchers to suggest that “individuals with gout should try to limit or even cut out their beer consumption, whereas wine may be allowed, given other health benefits associated with moderate alcohol consumption.”

Personally, I’ve noticed that beer is more likely to bring on gout than wine. I can (and occasionally do) drink a ton of wine and can get away with no gout “close-encounters.” But if I have a big beer night, I know that trouble is going to follow.

According to the Mayo Clinic, resveratrol in red wine helps prevent damage to blood vessels, reduces “bad” cholesterol and prevents blood clots. This is what makes red wine a “heart healthy” drink of choice.

What Type of Wine Should I Buy?

In my opinion, there is only ONE type of wine fit for a gout killer:  Dry Farm Wine.  DFW is an online mail order club that searches the world over to find and bring us the “cleanest” wines (no pesticides, herbicides, additives, GMOs, etc). But the most important feature of DFW for gout killers is that each batch is tested and proven to have statistically ZERO sugar.  And sugar is the enemy, especially when it comes to gout.

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  ☆ References

Alcohol intake and risk of incident gout in men: a prospective study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15094272

Alcohol and gout

http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/gout/alcgout.html

Red wine and resveratrol: Good for your heart?

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/red-wine/HB00089