Worried about gout? Researchers recently discovered that drinking coffee may lower your risk. Read what the experts think …

Gout is believed to have a genetic component, as nearly one in five individuals who develop gout has a family history of the disease. Other gout risk factors are gender (men outnumber women by nine to one); age (it is more common in adults than in children); being over weight; excessive consumption of alcohol; the presence of kidney disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes; and exposure to lead. A high consumption of purine-rich foods also increases the risk of having a gout attack. Purine-rich foods include certain meats and fish, poultry, liver, dried beans, asparagus, mush- rooms, cauliflower, peas, and spinach.

Recently researchers in Canada sorted through data on more than 14,000 men and women from the six-year Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and found that people who drank four or more cups of coffee a day lowered their risk of gout by 40-60%. The participants, who filled out questionnaires about their diets over the previous month, ranged in age from 40 to 75 and had no history of gout.

Coffee -- and, to a lesser extent, decaffeinated coffee -- significantly lowered the amount of uric acid in the blood. The build up of uric acid causes gout. However tea and other caffeinated beverages had little effect, leading researchers to conclude that elements other than caffeine in coffee, like an antioxidant called chlorogenic acid, caused the uric acid levels to drop. Researchers aren't suggesting that you drink four cups of coffee a day to ward off gout. But if you have gout or are at risk for it, go ahead and enjoy your morning brew.

[This data was reported in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism, Volume 57, page 816.]