Tomatoes can be a gout trigger – new study backs up anecdotal evidence

People who claim that eating tomatoes can cause their gout to flare-up are welcoming new research that suggests there may be a biological basis for their experiences.

A research group surveyed 2051 people with clinically verified gout. Of these people 71% reported having one or more food triggers, and tomatoes were listed as a trigger in 20% of these cases.
The experts then pooled and analysed data from 12,720 people from three long-running US health studies, and found that tomato consumption is linked to higher levels of uric acid in the blood, which is the major underlying cause of gout.

Genetics PhD student Tanya Flynn, says that while their research is not geared to prove that tomatoes trigger gout attacks, it does suggest that this food can alter uric acid levels to a degree comparable to other commonly accepted gout trigger foods.

“We thought it important to find a biological reason for this to add weight to what gout patients are already saying,” she says. “We found that the positive association between eating tomato and uric acid levels was on a par with that of consuming seafood, red meat, alcohol or sugar-sweetened drinks.

“Avoiding tomatoes may be helpful for people who have experienced a gout attack after eating them, but with proper treatment this doesn’t have to be a long-term avoidance.

“Further intervention studies are needed to determine whether tomatoes should be added to the list of traditional dietary triggers of gout flares, but this research is the first step in supporting this idea.”

The research is published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders.

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