Men with a higher intake of vitamin C from food or supplements have a lower risk of developing gout, a form of arthritis from uric acid build-up that causes inflamed joints, researchers said on Monday.

    "Vitamin C intake may provide a useful option in the prevention of gout," Dr. Hyon Choi and colleagues at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver said in a paper published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

    Gout victims are typically men age 40 and older, although the malady can also strike women. Vitamin C appears to lower the levels of uric acid in the blood, the research team said.

    Gout can lead to permanent joint damage and is linked to alcohol abuse, obesity, high blood pressure and a diet heavy in meat and cheese. It is increasingly common and afflicts 3 million people in the United States.

    A look at nearly 47,000 U.S. men studied from 1986 to 2006 for a variety of health issues found that every 500 milligram increase of daily vitamin C intake produced a 17 percent decrease in the risk for gout.

    An orange has about 70 mg of the vitamin. Higher concentrations come in pill form.

    Among the men studied those with daily intake of 1,500 supplemental mg a day had a 45 percent lower risk of gout than those who took in less than 250 mg a day, said the team headed by Choi, who is now at Boston University.

    研究人員在周一說，從食物或者補品中攝入較高量維生素 C 的男性發生痛風病的風險較低。痛風是一種由于尿酸積聚所引起的關節炎類型，它導致關節發炎紅腫。
　　
    溫哥華英國哥倫比亞大學的 Hyon Choi 博士和他的同事們在《內科醫學檔案》發表的一篇論文中說,“維生素 C 的攝取量可能提供一種實用的預防痛風的選擇”。
　　
    痛風的受害者一般是年齡 40 歲或者 40 歲以上的男性，但是這種疾病也可能侵襲女性。該研究小組說，維生素 C 顯現出能降低血液中的尿酸水平。
　　
    痛風可能導致永久性的關節損傷，并且與酗酒、肥胖癥、高血壓以及日常飲食過多的肉類和奶酪相關聯。它越來越普遍，折磨著美國的 3 百萬人。
　　
    通過查看接近 47,000 名被研究的美國男性從 1986 年到 2006 年的各種健康問題，發現每天維生素 C 的攝入量每增加 500 毫克，使痛風的風險降低 17%。
　　
    桔子大約有 70 毫克的維生素。較高濃度的維生素 C 則來自藥丸。
　　
    現在在波士頓大學的 Choi 所率領的研究小組說，在這些被研究的男性之中，每天補充攝攝取量 1500 毫克的那些人比每天攝入少于 250 毫克的人，痛風的風險要低百分之四十五。