New research examines the effects of a high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet on both rodents and humans, and suggests that it can alleviate the symptoms of gout.

Share on Pinterest New research suggests that a ketogenic diet – typically consisting of meats and high-fat dairy – may protect against gout.

Gout is a rheumatic disease that affects more than 8 million people in the United States. It is caused by either an excessive production or insufficient excretion of uric acid. In gout, the uric acid crystals sediment in tissues and fluids, triggering the body’s immune cells. This results in disabling pain, inflammation, and fever.

These episodes of immune cell reactivation, also known as flares, are triggered by a protein complex called the NLRP3 inflammasome.

New research from the laboratory of Vishwa Deep Dixit – professor of comparative medicine and immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT – suggests that the so-called ketogenic diet may help to relieve the symptoms of gout.

A ketogenic diet is low in carbohydrates and typically used to lose weight. Ketogenic diets work by inducing “physiological ketosis” in the body – a state of the metabolism where the body’s reserves of glucose are no longer enough for the body’s central nervous system.

The central nervous system then needs an alternative source of energy, so it makes the liver turn fats into fatty acids and ketone bodies.

The new study – published in the journal Cell Reports – suggests that one of these ketone bodies, the beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), may alleviate urate crystal-induced gout.