Gout is often associated with excessive consumption or a fairly healthy diet, but research suggests that genetics play a bigger role in the development of this arthritic disease than previously thought.
A recent study, conducted by an international team of scientists, looked at genetic data collected from 2.6 million people across 13 different cohorts of DNA data. That number included 120,295 people with “prevalent gout.”
By comparing the genetic codes of people with gout to those without, the team found 377 specific regions of DNA where there were disease-specific variations — 149 of which had never been linked to gout before.
While lifestyle and environmental factors are still at play, the findings suggest that genetics play a major role in determining gout suffering — and the researchers believe there may still be other unexplored genetic links.
“Gout is a chronic, genetic-based disease and is not the fault of the person with gout – the myth that gout is caused by lifestyle or diet needs to be debunked,” said epidemiologist Tony Merriman of the University of Otago in New Zealand, when the study was published last year.
Gout sets in when there are high levels of uric acid in the blood, which then form sharp crystalline needles in the joints. When the body’s immune system starts attacking these crystals, it leads to significant pain and discomfort.
Genetics is important at every stage of this process, the researchers suggest. In particular, it affects the likelihood that the body’s immune system will attack the crystals, as well as how uric acid is transported around the body.
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