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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Nutritional Immunology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1431323
This article is part of the Research Topic Micronutrients, Immunity and Infection View all 17 articles

Association between Dietary Vitamin C Intake and gout among American Adults

Provisionally accepted
Yadan Zou Yadan Zou Yuyong Liu Yuyong Liu *Shengguang Li Shengguang Li *
  • International Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Gout is a common type of inflammatory arthritis. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that neutralizes reactive oxygen species. However, the association between dietary vitamin C levels and gout remains unclear. This study evaluated the relationship between dietary vitamin C intake and gout. Methods: Cross-sectional data from individuals aged > 20 years who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2013 and 2018 were collected. Details on gout, dietary vitamin C intake, and several other essential variables were recorded. Results: There were 12589 participants, 5% (652/12589) of whom experienced gout. Compared with individuals with lower vitamin C consumption in the Q1 group (≤19.9 mg/day), the adjusted odds ratio(OR)values for dietary vitamin C intake and gout in the Q2 group (19.9-49.7 mg/day), Q3 group (49.7-110.375 mg/day), and Q4 group (≥110.375 mg/day) were 0.87 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.69-1.1, P = 0.237), 0.81 (95% CI: 0.64-1.02, P = 0.076), and 0.77 (95% CI: 0.6-0.99, P= 0.042), respectively. Accordingly, the association between dietary vitamin C intake and gout exhibited an Lshaped curve (nonlinear, P = 0.245) in a restricted cubic spline. Subgroup analysis revealed significant interactions between vitamin C levels and gout according to sex (P < 0.05). When we used data on dietary vitamin C from the second survey, we observed a similar inverse association between vitamin C intake and gout. The vitamin C was also negatively associated with hyperuricemia (OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.9-0.98, P=0.005). Compared with Q1, the adjusted OR values for dietary vitamin C and hyperuricemia in Q2, Q3, and Q4 were 0.77 (95% CI: 0.69-0.86, P = 0.65), 0.81 (95% CI: 0.72-0.91, P = 0.014), and 0.72 (95% CI: 0.64-0.81, P < 0.001), respectively. No association was observed between vitamin C supplementation and gout. Conclusion: The population-based data indicate that dietary vitamin C intake is inversely associated with gout. These findings support the potential role of vitamin C in preventing gout.

    Keywords: vitamin C, Gout, inverse association, dose-response, a large population study

    Received: 11 May 2024; Accepted: 27 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zou, Liu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yuyong Liu, International Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, China
    Shengguang Li, International Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, China

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