Drinking skim milk may help people manage their gout. According to research presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, previous studies have indicated that individuals who drink a lot of milk have a lower risk of developing gout. Researchers therefore studied the effects of skim milk on serum uric acid concentrations, which-when at an elevated level-increase the risk of gout. Enlisting 16 healthy male volunteers, researchers studied the effect of drinking soy milk and three different types of skim milk, produced at different times of the milking season from grass-fed cows. Each participant received a single dose of each product in random order. Samples of serum and urine were collected immediately before each participant drank one of the beverages and then hourly over a three-hour period. The regimen was carried out with each participant for each of the four beverages with a week in between each session. The studys authors found that after drinking soy milk, the serum uric acid increased by about10 percent. In contrast, all skim milks led to a decrease in serum uric acid by approximately 10 percent.
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