August is Psoriasis Action Month, a national observance led by the National Psoriasis Foundation to raise awareness of psoriasis and its related health conditions. Psoriasis affects an estimated 125 million people worldwide, and for people living with it, the skin is only part of the story. Psoriasis is a systemic inflammatory condition, and research has linked it to higher rates of cardiovascular disease, excess weight, and — relevant to this site — gout. The connection matters: epidemiologic studies report that people with psoriasis are more likely to have elevated uric acid and to develop gout. The relationship appears to be an association, not a simple cause-and-effect.
What the research actually shows
The most direct evidence comes from a prospective study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases in 2015. Researchers followed 27,751 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and 71,059 women in the Nurses' Health Study, confirming 2,217 new cases of gout during follow-up. After adjusting for age, body mass index, alcohol intake, and other known gout risk factors, a history of psoriasis was associated with a higher risk of later developing gout, with a pooled hazard ratio of 1.71 (95% confidence interval 1.36 to 2.15).
The association was stronger still among people with both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, where the pooled hazard ratio rose to 4.95 (95% CI 2.72 to 9.01). That pattern — higher risk where inflammatory disease is more extensive — is one reason researchers suspect systemic inflammation plays a role, alongside other shared factors.
Cross-sectional data add an important caution. A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) analysis published in Clinical and Experimental Dermatology in 2016 found that people who reported psoriasis were more likely to have elevated serum uric acid (OR 1.37) and to report a history of gout (OR 1.83). However, these associations weakened and were no longer statistically significant after controlling for variables such as obesity and the metabolic syndrome. A 2016 meta-analysis similarly found higher serum uric acid levels in people with psoriasis in some regions — notably Western Europe — but not in others.
Taken together, the evidence supports an association between psoriasis and gout risk, but it does not prove that psoriasis directly causes gout. That distinction matters for how you read headlines and how you plan your care.
Why psoriasis and gout might travel together
Researchers have proposed several overlapping explanations. None is fully settled, and in practice several are probably operating at once.
The first is cell turnover. Purines are structural building blocks of cells, and when cells break down, their purines are converted into uric acid. Psoriasis is characterized by rapid turnover of skin cells, which can increase the body's overall purine load and push uric acid upward.
The second is inflammation. Psoriasis is a systemic inflammatory condition, not merely a skin problem. Uric acid itself can promote inflammatory pathways, so it is plausible that inflammatory status and urate handling interact — although the exact mechanisms are still being studied.
The third, and perhaps most important, is shared metabolic ground. Psoriasis and gout both appear more often in people with excess weight, high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, and the metabolic syndrome. Lifestyle factors such as alcohol use and diets heavy in red meat or sugar-sweetened beverages can affect both conditions. Some medicines used alongside psoriasis care — for example, diuretics for hypertension — can also raise serum urate.
For readers with psoriasis, this means gout risk is worth raising with a clinician, especially if you carry other metabolic risk factors. For readers with gout who also have psoriasis, the same advice applies in reverse.
What this means for your plate
Diet does not replace medication or medical monitoring, but it can support healthy urate levels. The principles that help most gout patients are familiar ones, and they align with broadly anti-inflammatory eating patterns.
Moderate the protein groups most strongly linked to gout risk. In the landmark 2004 New England Journal of Medicine study of more than 47,000 men, those in the highest fifth of meat consumption had a 1.41-times higher risk of incident gout than those in the lowest fifth; the comparable figure for seafood was 1.51. Processed meats and organ meats fall on the higher-purine end of the range — our meat guide lays out the specifics.
Keep dairy in the picture. The same 2004 study found that men who consumed the most dairy products had roughly a 44% lower risk of gout (relative risk 0.56) than those who consumed the least. Low-fat milk and yogurt are simple, convenient choices for most people with gout, and you can read more in our dairy guide.
Watch alcohol and added sugar. Beer in particular has been consistently associated with higher gout risk — details in our dark beer food page — and sugar-sweetened drinks raise uric acid through the fructose pathway. If weight is a concern, gradual weight loss is one of the most effective non-drug levers for lowering urate over time.
Psoriasis Action Month is a fitting moment to look at the full picture. If you have psoriasis, ask your dermatologist or rheumatologist whether your uric acid has been tested and how your diet, weight, and medications fit together. Knowing your own flare triggers — whatever your conditions — is the first step toward fewer surprises.
The bottom line
Psoriasis and gout are distinct conditions, but the evidence increasingly points to a meaningful association between them. The practical response is not to treat every food as an enemy or to panic — it is to know your numbers, manage shared risk factors like weight and metabolic health, keep alcohol and added sugar modest, and build meals around vegetables, dairy, and portion-controlled proteins. That is sound advice for your skin, your joints, and the rest of your body.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does psoriasis cause gout?
The short answer is that researchers do not know whether psoriasis directly causes gout, and most describe the relationship as an association rather than a causal chain. A large prospective analysis found that people with psoriasis were more likely to develop gout later, even after adjusting for many known risk factors — which is why your care team may suggest checking uric acid. But the same study and others show that shared conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, and diet account for part of the link. Treating gout effectively usually starts with measuring serum urate and setting a target with your doctor, not with guessing about causes.
If I have psoriasis, should I change my diet to prevent gout?
Diet alone does not prevent gout, and no single food guarantees protection. The evidence-based approach is to reduce intake of the foods most strongly associated with gout — red meat, processed meat, and certain seafood — while keeping dairy, vegetables, and fruit in the diet, and moderating alcohol and sugary drinks. If you carry excess weight, gradual weight loss may lower uric acid more than any individual food change. Because psoriasis and gout share metabolic risk factors, this pattern of eating is broadly consistent with how the American College of Rheumatology's 2020 gout guideline frames dietary advice: as supporting treatment, not replacing it.
Can treating gout or lowering uric acid help psoriasis?
There is no strong clinical evidence that gout treatment improves psoriasis, and the two conditions are best managed independently with your care team. That said, uric acid has pro-inflammatory effects, and some small studies have looked at whether lowering urate might influence psoriasis severity; results so far are not conclusive. What is clearer is that losing excess weight and controlling the metabolic syndrome can improve psoriasis outcomes in some people and is also central to gout management. Keep your dermatologist and rheumatologist informed about both conditions, and ask before starting or stopping any medication.
References: Merola JF, Wu S, Han J, Choi HK, Qureshi AA. Psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and risk of gout in US men and women. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015;74(8):1495-1500. | "Psoriasis and uric acid: a population-based cross-sectional study." Clin Exp Dermatol. 2016;41(3):259-264. | Wang et al. Association of serum uric acid levels in psoriasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016;95(19):e3676. | Choi HK, et al. Purine-rich foods, dairy, and protein intake, and the risk of gout in men. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:1093-1103. | Fitzgerald JD, et al. 2020 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Management of Gout. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2020.