Gout, the scourge of Victorians, on the rise

Meat, beer and gravy blamed

Tackling the diseases that plagued the slums of 19th century Manchester played a key role in raising living conditions of the poor.

But two centuries on, their descendants are battling a resurgence of so-called Victorian diseases – and the city’s poor diet and love of meat, gravy and beer could be to blame, said a nutrition expert yesterday.

Residents of Manchester are more likely than any others in England to be admitted to hospital with gout, malnutrition and scarlet fever, and numbers may be on the rise.

last year there were 7,499 hospital admissions across greater Manchester with a primary and secondary diagnosis of gout – a type of arthritis in which small crystals form inside and around the joints, causing sudden attacks of severe pain and swelling.

That is a rate of 273 per 100,000 people, compared to 215 per 100,000 across England as a whole.

Haleh Moravej, senior lecturer in nutritional sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University, said gout was linked to high levels of uric acid, produced from the breakdown of purines found in some food types.

‘normally, uric acid is dissolved in the blood and passed through the kidneys into the urine,’ she said.

The high rates of gout could be linked to the fact that the Mancunian diet is high in foods such as liver, kidneys, sausages, bacon, beef, pork, lamb, seafood, gravy and beer – all of which contain purines. Mrs Moravej added: ‘Purines from fer- mented drinks such as beer stimulate the production of uric acid by the liver. Scientific research suggests gout is twice as common among men who drink two bottles of beer compared to two glasses of wine per day.’

also alarming public health professionals in greater Manchester is the rate of hospital admissions for malnutrition, at 1.5 times the national average for England.

Mrs Moravej said: ‘Malnutrition in Manchester could be linked to low consumption of fruits and vegetables, lack of cooking skills, food insecurity and high consumption of highcalorie, low-nutritional value food.

‘Malnutrition could also be linked to inequality in health in Manchester as more people are struggling to feed themselves and their families.

‘in the case of the elderly in Manchester, malnutrition could be linked to bereavement, lack of cooking skills – in particular in men – chronic disease, social isolation as well as poverty.’

People were twice as likely to be admitted to hospital with scarlet fever in greater Manchester, with 111 admissions last year, a rate of four per 100,000, compared to an English rate of two per 100,000.

The rapid expansion of Manchester in the 19th century attracted tens of thousands of families from the countryside, but many lived in slums where ill-health was rife and life expectancy short.

Doctors last year warned that scarlet fever cases among children have reached a 50-year high.

Untreated, it can lead to pneumonia and in Victorian times this could be a death sentence. Public Health England has warned that rickets and syphilis are also on the rise.

‘Struggling to feed themselves’