Modification of Dietary Habits for Prevention of Gout in Japanese People: Gout and the Japanese Diet

Abstract

Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis, and it is characterized by the deposition of monosodium urate crystals that form in the presence of increased uric acid concentrations. A high serum uric acid concentration (hyperuricemia) is frequently associated with gout. The burden of gout has increased between 1990 and 2017 globally. In Japan, most of gout patients are adults, and the number of gout patients are higher in men than in women. The prevalence of gout has increased markedly since the 1960s. The Japanese Society of Gout and Uric & Nucleic Acids has stated that an increase in hyperuricemia and gout patients is attributed to changes in environmental factors (e.g., purine intake, fructose intake, meat and visceral intake, alcohol consumption, strenuous muscle exercise, stress, obesity) rather than genetic factors. The Japanese economy revived to pre-World War II levels around 1955 and the eating habits in 1960s became stable. The menu of Japanese food has been rapidly expanded with a variety of dishes due to the westernization of meals from 1955 to 1965. Compared to the Japanese diet in 1950, in the Japanese diet in 2016, consumption of rice and potatoes decreased, whereas intake of wheat, legumes, seeds and nuts, seaweed, vegetables, fruit, meat, seafood, eggs, milk and dairy products, oils and fats, seasoning and spices increased. This phenomenon is thought to be attributed to the westernization of the Japanese diet since 1955. Recognizing changes in the Japanese diet are important for dietary habits modification to prevent gout in Japanese people. The objective of this article is to propose a preventive method for gout through the evaluation of recent dietary habits in Japanese people. This article suggests that changes in the Japanese diet are possible to be one of the factors contributing to the increase in the number of gout patients in Japan.