One of the biggest misconceptions about gout that Spencer Lowe, M.D., a Palo Alto Medical Foundation rheumatologist and internist, encounters in his practice is that you can cause it by making poor diet and lifestyle choices.
“Gout is called ‘the disease of kings’ because for hundreds of years it has been associated with living a ‘rich lifestyle,’” Dr. Lowe says. “As a result there is a stigma to having gout that is really misplaced.”