You may not be able to leave home without your daily morning coffee and it is estimated that in US over 50 % of the population consumes, on average, 2 cups daily. That's why this beverage is widely investigated for its health effects, from breast cancer to heart disease.

Still, coffee was found to have some health effects, from lowering insulin and uric acid levels to easing muscle pain on short term. Based on this discoveries, coffee consumption has been investigated due to the risk of gout, the most common and excruciatingly painful inflammatory arthritis in adult males, by a mix team at the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada, University of British Columbia in Canada, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, led by Dr. Hyon K. Choi.

Gout is determined by high levels of uric acid, due to high protein intake, from red meat and fatty dairy products.

The 12 years survey was made on a pool of 45,869 men, aged 40 to 75, with no history of gout. The team found that drinking 4 or more cups of coffee daily significantly decreases the risk of gout. The subjects were asked every 4 years about their ranging intake, from never to 2 to 4 cups weekly to 6 or more daily, to state their average intake of coffee, decaffeinated coffee, tea and other caffeine-containing food item, like cola and chocolate.
During the survey, 757 new gout cases were diagnosed.

Other risk factors for gout were evaluated: body mass index, history of hypertension, alcohol intake and a diet high in red meat and high-fat dairy foods.
The data showed that the risk for developing gout dropped with high coffee consumption, by 40 % for those drinking 4 to 5 cups daily and 59 % for those drinking 6 or more cups daily compared to those who never drank coffee.

A weaker linkage was also found in the case of those consuming decaffeinated coffee. Tea (which contains caffeine) drinking and total caffeine intake had no impact on gout incidence.

"Components of coffee other than caffeine may be responsible for the beverage's gout-prevention benefits." speculates Choi.

The phenol chlorogenic acid, a powerful antioxidant, could be one possible cause.

"Our findings are most directly generalizable to men age 40 years and older, the most gout-prevalent population, with no history of gout. Given the potential influence of female hormones on the risk of gout in women and an increased role of dietary impact on uric acid levels among patients with existing gout, prospective studies of these populations would be valuable." said Choi.