Should gout patients quit smoking?

Of course, you should quit smoking, and the sooner the better!

Let's put it this way: for friends with gout, there's already a "trouble" in your body – high uric acid. And smoking, while it won't directly cause uric acid to spike immediately, will "complicate things" in various ways, making your gout more prone to flare-ups and harder to control.

You can understand it like this:

Smoking "causes damage," making your body more prone to "catching fire": A gout attack is essentially an "inflammatory storm" in the joints. Smoking itself keeps your body in a state of chronic low-grade inflammation. This is like constantly throwing cigarette butts into a flammable warehouse. Once uric acid crystals, like a "spark," fall, the "fire" (gout) will ignite faster and burn fiercer than for others.
Smoking "blocks pathways," preventing uric acid from being excreted: The body primarily excretes uric acid through the kidneys. Smoking damages blood vessels, including the tiny ones in the kidneys. Over time, kidney function will be affected, much like the "drainage system" for uric acid excretion getting blocked or narrowed, making uric acid naturally more likely to accumulate in the body.
Smoking "attracts accomplices," causing you to be plagued by troubles: People with gout often also suffer from "comorbidities" like high blood pressure, high blood fat, diabetes, and heart disease. And smoking is precisely a major contributor to these conditions. You already have one enemy (gout), and smoking is like recruiting soldiers for that enemy, bringing in a whole host of more formidable foes (cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases) to attack you together. At that point, it won't just be a simple foot ache, but a major, potentially life-threatening problem.

Therefore, for gout patients, quitting smoking is not a "choice" but a "necessity." The uric acid-lowering medication prescribed by doctors helps you control uric acid, but quitting smoking and improving your lifestyle are what truly help you dismantle the "bomb" in your body that could explode at any time. To suffer less and for long-term health, you absolutely must quit smoking.