WEDNESDAY, Mar. 11 (HealthDay News) -- High vitamin C intake in men is independently associated with a significantly lower risk of gout, according to a report published in the Mar. 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Hyon K. Choi, M.D., of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and colleagues studied 46,994 men between 1986 and 2006, and assessed vitamin C intake at four-year intervals. During the 20-year follow-up, they identified 1,317 cases of gout.

Compared to men with a total daily vitamin C intake of less than 250 mg, the researchers found those with intakes of 500-999, 1,000-1,499 mg, or 1,500 mg or more had a significantly lower risk of gout (multivariate relative risks, 0.83, 0.66 and 0.55, respectively. Compared to men who did not take vitamin C supplements, they found that those who took 1,000-1,499 mg per day or 1,500 mg or more per day also had a significantly lower risk (multivariate relative risks, 0.66 and 0.55, respectively).

"Given the general safety profile associated with vitamin C intake, particularly in the generally consumed ranges as in the present study (e.g., tolerable upper intake level of vitamin C less than 2,000 mg in adults according to the Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine), vitamin C intake may provide a useful option in the prevention of gout," the authors write.

The study was supported by TAP Pharmaceuticals.

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