Gout Reduce Risks of Alzheimer’s Disease Says Study

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People experiencing gout could be at a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease says a recent study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. The study demonstrated a unique association between gout, a complex form of arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease, a chronic degenerative dementia.  

According to Delaware Online, about 24 percent of people that experienced gout had reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease reports scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston University Medical Center. Their study involves 59,224 people with gout and 238,805 people without gout aged around 65, with men accounting to 71 percent of the study population.  

Gout is characterized by sudden, severe attacks of pain, redness and tenderness in joints, often the joint at the base of the big toe and is much common in men, and largely in women post menopause. A burning sensation of the big toe is usually experienced at nights. In severe cases, even the bed sheet on the toe would feel heavy, according to Mayo Clinic.

Alzheimer's disease, on the other hand, is a progressive dementia often seen in elderly people characterized by loss of memory and other important mental functions. The brain cells degenerate themselves and die slowly and steadily resulting in loss of intellectual and social skills. A combination of genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors are believed to cause this degenerative dementia, says the Mayo Clinic. Though the mechanism of the disease is quite known there is no cure found so far.

Gout is caused as a result of increased levels of uric acid in blood and is associated with issues relating to kidney stones and cardiovascular problems wherein a positive association of gout against neurodegenerative diseases and Parkinson's disease were also reported lately.

The anti-oxidant properties of uric acid have neuro-protective benefits, says the researchers. Uric acid helps in repairing the damage caused by the free radicals to the cells and DNA by scavenging free radicals, atoms or molecules with unpaired electrons that combine easily with other molecules, says the Washington Post.

Hyon Choi, a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and leader of the new research, said that the study doesn't confidently claim that uric acid protects the brain since a lot of research and years of work are necessary to come to a conclusion on the subject.

"If this happens to be true," he said, "then we are talking about potentially major implications. But, again, (it is) still speculative at this point" noted the researcher, according to the Washington Post.