A total of 46,393 men with no history of gout at baseline provided information on intake of soft drinks and fructose through validated food frequency questionnaires. During 12 years of follow-up, there were 755 confirmed incident cases of gout. Compared with intake of less than 1 serving of sugar-sweetened soft drinks per month, the multivariate relative risk for gout was 1.29 for 5 to 6 servings per week, 1.45 for 1 serving per day, and 1.85 for 2 or more servings per day (p for trend=0.002). Diet soft drinks were not associated with risk of gout (p for trend=0.99). For increasing quintiles of fructose intake, the multivariate relative risks for gout were 1.00, 1.29, 1.41, 1.84, and 2.02 (p for trend <0.001). Other major sources of fructose intake, including total fruit juice and fructose-rich fruits (apples and oranges) were also associated with a higher risk for incident gout (p for trend <0.05).
