[cheezerman]

Something that I learned recently that blew my mind was that gout is caused primarily from consuming DNA.

How? Gout is caused by a buildup of uric acid, which is created in the body as a byproduct of breaking down purines. Purines are essentially broken down pieces of DNA.

This makes sense when you discover that beer can cause or worsen gout, because of the large amount of yeast present, but other fermented beverages such as wine do not.

Obviously there are other factors that go into gout, and other causes too, but the primary cause is eating DNA!

[ineedasername]

Apart from the non-organic portion of liquids, doesn't just about everything you consumer consist of organic cells filled with DNA? Plants, animals, it's all DNA

[coldtea]

Yes, but parent says " Purines are essentially broken down pieces of DNA". Are those all "broken down DNA"?

[ineedasername]

The parent said it was caused by consuming DNA. All DNA is broken down during digestion.

That is not a useful generalization if it's actually a small sliver of broken down DNA that causes the issue. It's like saying "all food-borne illness is caused by eating DNA." It may be literally correct, but is general to the point of adding no value in understanding the specific cause of the problem.

[refulgentis]

I imagine that after digestion, yes, it would be broken down DNA

[rsync]

"Something that I learned recently that blew my mind was that gout is caused primarily from consuming DNA."

I came here to say just that.

I have never experienced gout but years ago I was very interested to learn, and then dramatically oversimplify: gout comes from eating DNA.

Presumably that's how beer is such a catalyst for a gout attack: all that dead yeast ...

[ta988]

There is this common fallacy when dealing with chemistry that compounds with close structures (or substructures) are the same or have related effects. You can find benzene rings as a substructure of some amino acids all over your proteins doesn't mean eating protein will poison you with benzene...

Sometimes just as little as a change in the spatial configuration of a compound (cis/trans isomers for example) or the addition of a carbon can dramatically change the effect of a molecule on a living body...

[danieltillett]

You missed RNA.