Plant-based diets are increasingly embraced for their marked health benefits for cardiometabolic diseases and their positive environmental impact. However, the relationship between such diets and gout risk has been less clear. A recent study published in the Journal of American Medical Association highlighted this connection by examining how adherence to various forms of plant-based diets correlates with the incidence of gout. This prospective study utilized data from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986 to 2012) and the Nurses’ Health Study (1984 to 2010) included a total of 1,22,679 men and women who were free of gout at the outset of this study.
The diets of the participants were assessed using a comprehensive plant-based diet index (PDI) were further divided into healthy (hPDI) and unhealthy (uPDI) versions. The diet indices comprised 18 specific food groups and evaluated through a validated food frequency questionnaire. The study spanned from March 2020 to August 2023 and used the Cox proportional hazards regression models to analyze the associations. Over 2.7 million person-years of follow-up, a total of 2,709 participants developed gout.
The key findings of this study revealed;
The overall PDI that included both healthy and unhealthy plant-based foods did not show a significant association with gout risk. However, a closer look at the quality of diet provided clearer insights. The healthy plant-based diet index (hPDI) was significantly inversely linked with gout risk. The participants with the highest adherence to hPDI had a 21% lower risk of developing gout when compared to the participants with the lowest adherence.
Also, the unhealthy plant-based diet index (uPDI) was positively associated with an increased gout risk. The women with the highest adherence to uPDI were 31% more likely to develop gout than those with the lowest adherence. The study also delved into individual food groups which found that higher intakes of whole grains, tea/coffee and dairy were independently linked to a lower gout risk.
Each additional daily serving of whole grains reduced the gout risk by 7%, while an extra daily serving of dairy lowered the risk by 14%. Also, certain unhealthy plant foods like fruit juice and sugar-sweetened beverages were associated with an increased gout risk.
These findings support existing dietary recommendations advocating for the consumption of healthy plant foods while minimizing unhealthy plant-based foods to reduce gout risk. Overall, the study underlines the importance of diet quality in managing gout and highlights the precise impact of different plant-based foods on health.
Source:
Rai, S. K., Wang, S., Hu, Y., Hu, F. B., Wang, M., Choi, H. K., & Sun, Q. (2024). Adherence to Healthy and Unhealthy Plant-Based Diets and the Risk of Gout. In JAMA Network Open (Vol. 7, Issue 5, p. e2411707). American Medical Association (AMA). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.11707