Gout cases surge as UK eats its way towards fattest nation in Europe

Junk food, snacking and sedentary lifestyles during lockdown have fuelled rise in hospital admissions

IT HAS long been painted as the disease of gluttonous kings.

But figures suggest that overeating since the pandemic has fuelled the rise of gout, with a sharp rise in hospital admissions linked to the condition.

The statistics show the number of cases has risen by 20 per cent in three years, with 234,000 people admitted to hospital with a primary or secondary diagnosis of gout in 2021/22.

The figures from NHS Digital follow a significant rise in obesity over the same period, as more than one in four adults now classed as obese.

Experts warn that much of the population became more sedentary during repeated lockdowns, with a heavier reliance on snacks and junk food while working from home.

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said the figures were an indictment on successive governments who have presided over an ever fatter nation.

He said: “Forget Falstaff, Henry VIII and the rich Victorians who made gout infamous.

“Today’s Elizabethans are eating and drinking them all under the table.”

Mr Fry also said many gout sufferers were getting too little help from the NHS for a condition that can cause excruciating pain.

“Gout sufferers are miles from getting the treatment they need and their appalling care is little better than that delivered in the days of the Dark Ages,” he said.

Gout is a type of inflammatory arthritis that causes sudden, severe joint pain. It often starts in the big toe, but it can also affect other joints in the feet, hands, wrists, elbows or knees, and cause hot, swollen red skin.

It is one of the oldest known diseases known to mankind, with a history dating back to 2,500 BC, when the Egyptians first identified it. But experts said modern lifestyles – and in particular a reliance on delivery meals – were causing a resurgence in the condition, which results from too much uric acid in the body.

Estimates suggest that between one and two people in 100 will suffer from gout, with the risks increasing in middle age.

Men are more likely than women to be sufferers, though the chance of developing the condition increases in women after the menopause.

Ordinarily, the kidneys work to expel uric acid. When they cannot, rising levels eventually lead to deposits of sodium urate crystals forming in and around the joints.

It’s these needle-like crystals that rub against the joints causing pain, swelling and often severe discomfort.

Typically, gout sufferers will notice a stiffness and limited movement in their big toe as the first sign of the ailment.

Treatment involves anti-inflamma

‘Forget Falstaff and Henry VIII. Today’s Elizabethans are eating and drinking them all under the table’

tory drugs, with lifestyle changes – such as weight loss – also recommended.

The trends follow warnings from the World Health Organisation (WHO) that Britain will become the fattest nation in Europe within a decade thanks to a “Deliveroo culture” fuelled by lockdown habits.

The WHO said “alarming” trends that mean that almost four in 10 Britons will soon be obese.

Researchers said the growth of meal delivery apps during the pandemic was fuelling Britain’s record obesity rates, which will leave it topping the obesity league tables by 2033.

There was a doubling of orders from Deliveroo in the UK in the six months since the first lockdown.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Helping more people reach a healthy weight is a top priority for the Government.”