Men with a higher intake of vitamin C from food or supplements have a lower risk of developing gout, a form of arthritis from uric acid build-up that causes inflamed joints, researchers said on Monday.

"Vitamin C intake may provide a useful option in the prevention of gout," Dr. Hyon Choi and colleagues at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver said in a paper published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Gout victims are typically men age 40 and older, although the malady can also strike women. Vitamin C appears to lower the levels of uric acid in the blood, the research team said.

Gout can lead to permanent joint damage and is linked to alcohol abuse, obesity, high blood pressure and a diet heavy in meat and cheese. It is increasingly common and afflicts 3 million people in the United States.

A look at nearly 47,000 U.S. men studied from 1986 to 2006 for a variety of health issues found that every 500 milligram increase of daily vitamin C intake produced a 17 percent decrease in the risk for gout.

An orange has about 70 mg of the vitamin. Higher concentrations come in pill form.

Among the men studied those with daily intake of 1,500 supplemental mg a day had a 45 percent lower risk of gout than those who took in less than 250 mg a day, said the team headed by Choi, who is now at Boston University.

研究人员在周一说，从食物或者补品中摄入较高量维生素 C 的男性发生痛风病的风险较低。痛风是一种由于尿酸积聚所引起的关节炎类型，它导致关节发炎红肿。

温哥华英国哥伦比亚大学的 Hyon Choi 博士和他的同事们在《内科医学档案》发表的一篇论文中说,“维生素 C 的摄取量可能提供一种实用的预防痛风的选择”。

痛风的受害者一般是年龄 40 岁或者 40 岁以上的男性，但是这种疾病也可能侵袭女性。该研究小组说，维生素 C 显现出能降低血液中的尿酸水平。

痛风可能导致永久性的关节损伤，并且与酗酒、肥胖症、高血压以及日常饮食过多的肉类和奶酪相关联。它越来越普遍，折磨着美国的 3 百万人。

通过查看接近 47,000 名被研究的美国男性从 1986 年到 2006 年的各种健康问题，发现每天维生素 C 的摄入量每增加 500 毫克，使痛风的风险降低 17%。

桔子大约有 70 毫克的维生素。较高浓度的维生素 C 则来自药丸。

现在在波士顿大学的 Choi 所率领的研究小组说，在这些被研究的男性之中，每天补充摄摄取量 1500 毫克的那些人比每天摄入少于 250 毫克的人，痛风的风险要低百分之四十五。