The Times - UK (2020-08-06)

the times | Thursday August 6 2020 1GM 17

News

The rich, George Eliot noted in the 19th
century, “ate and drank freely”. Then,
when gout came, they accepted the
disease not as a consequence of indul-
gence but as something that “ran
mysteriously in respectable families”.
Gout, it seems, is running a lot more
in families, respectable or otherwise,
today. A study has found an “alarming”
rise in the condition in every country,
including Britain. After adjusting for
age, there has been an 11 per cent rise in
cases in western Europe since 1990, and
6 per cent in the world as a whole.
In the 21st century, the scientists con-
clude, a lot more of us are rich enough
to live like the port-swilling gourmands
of yesteryear. “Gout burden was found
to be higher in developed regions and
the pace of increase was astonishing,”
they write, in the journal Arthritis &
Rheumatology. They add that this high-
lights the need for public education
about the risks and symptoms and the
behaviour likely to make it worse.
Gout, which is characterised by
severe arthritis-like joint pain, is still

Gout on rise in modern age of lusty appetites

Tom Whipple Science Editor viewed by many as a disease of medi-
eval kings, or perhaps dictators — Kim
Jong-un, the cheese-loving ruler of
North Korea, is rumoured to have it.
Patients’ groups and doctors are keen
to dispel that idea. “People with gout
have been caricatured and laughed at
throughout the centuries but for people
living with the condition it is anything
but funny,” Lynsey Conway, of the UK
Gout Society secretariat, said. “Gout is
an extremely painful condition which,
left untreated, may lead to joint and
kidney damage, permanent disability
and an increased risk of early death.”
The direct cause of gout, which is
more likely in men, is high levels of uric
acid in the blood, leading to the forma-
tion of crystals at joints. Contracting it
is made more likely by poor diet and
lifestyle and factors such as drinking to
excess. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called
it an affliction of the “lusty good-liver”.
However, lusty livers are not the only
cause. Scientists estimate that genetics
can significantly affect people’s chan-
ces of developing it, and it can strike the
young and apparently healthy. The lat-
est research adjusted results for age, so

that the effects of an ageing population

did not skew the results. However, if

this is not done then the absolute in-

crease in gout prevalence is even more

dramatic. In the UK it rose by 64 per

cent from 1995 to 2012. According to the

Gout Society it affects one in 40 people.

Ms Conway said that more obesity

and type 2 diabetes and overuse of

drugs such as aspirin were probably im-

plicated in the rise, but added: “While

modifying diet and lifestyle can help,

gout can only be treated, prevented and

potentially cured by long-term treat-

ment with medications that lower the

level of uric acid in the blood.”

Leading article, page 27

Case study

H

arry Tyndall,

32, below, from

northwest

London, says: “When

you have gout, you

always get compared

to Henry VIII.

People with gout

are meant to be

retired and

wealthy. I’m

the opposite.

I got gout

when I was 28. I had

been living in Dubai

and Australia,

surrounded by red

meat, dairy and

ice cream. I ate

out a lot. I drank

ice cream and

could eat 60

chicken

nuggets at a

time. But

I would go

to the gym three to

four hours a week.

When I came back to

the UK, one morning

I woke up and

thought I had broken

my foot. I went to the

physio and couldn’t

put my foot on the

floor. Within two

minutes they said I

had gout. Now I need

constant medication.”

patrick kidd

TMS

[email protected] | @timesdiary

Learning how

to move on

The newly published diaries of

Tommy Lascelles, private

secretary to two monarchs, reveal

that our Queen had developed at

a young age a neat trick for

cutting short tiring conversations.

In King’s Counsellor, edited by

Duff Hart-Davis, there is an entry

from April 1947 in which Lascelles

described the 21-year-old Princess

Elizabeth’s “astonishing solicitude

for people’s comfort” and her

“extremely businesslike” way of

keeping royal affairs on schedule.

“She has developed an admirable

technique,” Lascelles wrote, “of

going up behind her mother and

prodding her in the Achilles

tendon with the point of her

umbrella when time is being

wasted in unnecessary

conversation.” Perhaps if the

gentle tip didn’t work, she turned

the brolly round and hoicked Ma

away with a hook round the ankle.

Douglas Ross, the new leader of the

Scottish Conservatives, is a qualified

football referee but it seems he may

be easily duped. The journalist

Alexander Brown recalled how in a

Press v Politicians match he barged

Matt Hancock to the floor, causing

the health secretary to touch the

ball with his hand as he fell. Ross

surprisingly gave the Press a free

kick. Sounds like a man of

impeccable judgment and principle.

the waiting game

The American writer Gloria

Steinem received a tactful

but pointed lesson in

relationships when she

returned from college and

told her mother she had just

got engaged. Rather than

condemning the match,

Steinem’s mum replied

that it was a great idea to

get married so young

“because once you get

out into the world and see

how interesting it is you’ll never

get married”. The engagement

didn’t last, Steinem tells the How

to Fail podcast, and she did not

marry anyone until she was 66.

ministers in the dog house

Sir Lindsay Hoyle is such a fan of

Baroness Boothroyd, one of his

predecessors as Commons

Speaker, that he named his

Patterdale terrier Betty in her

honour. The real Betty,

meanwhile, is still barking at MPs

at the age of 90. She writes in The

Yorkshire Post that ministers

should obey Mr Speaker’s demand

that they announce policy in the

Commons first rather than to the

media. “It’s called parliamentary

democracy,” she says. “I had to

reprimand only one minister...

and it never happened again.”

That miscreant was Kate Hoey,

then sports minister, who is about

to join Betty in the Lords.

While most physical pursuits seem

banned or restricted, one sport is

making a virtue of the pandemic. A

reader sent me a poster for La Jolla

Fencing Academy in California,

which boasts that it offers the

perfect Covid-19 sport: “Masks,

gloves and if anybody gets closer

than 6ft to you, you stab them.”

headlines ripped up

News reaches me from the Barnes

Bugle, a newsletter for the village

in southwest London, of an urban

crimewave. Copies of The Times

have gone missing from the

editor’s doorstep on a regular

basis. Wondering which of his

neighbours were so stingy as not

to buy their own, he rigged

up a CCTV camera and

discovered the paper

being swiped by two

foxes. He thinks that

they must have been

attracted by the new eco

wrapping, made from potato

starch (yum), but I reckon the

thieving Tods just want a

change from Fox News.

tt