Gout is a relatively unknown condition in America. Less than one percent of the country has it. It’s so unknown, in fact, that Adam Sandler’s referring to it in “Lunch Lady Land” is probably the first time many people have ever heard it uttered (“Well I wear this net on my head cause my red hair is fallin’ out; I wear these orthopedic shoes ‘cause I got a bad case of the gout”). But if people’s penchant for pop doesn’t abate, and soon, gout could become more than a lyric heard in an Adam Sandler song.

This is not meant to diminish the estimated two million people who are afflicted with gout; they know about it all too well. But for the vast majority of people who aren’t familiar with it, gout occurs when there is an imbalance of uric acid produced in the body. Uric acid gets produced naturally by the kidneys to break down purines, which are also produced in the body naturally (many foods contain purines). As a result of this imbalance in uric acid, uric crystals get imbedded in and around the body’s joints, causing inflammation and swelling in the feet, ankles and legs, knees and fingers (most frequently the pain is first felt in the big toe). While the pain can be minimal, it can also be excruciating, and lead to permanent joint damage if left untreated.

That said, seeing as how no one likes pain, why not do all one can to avoid gout by limiting soda consumption? Because according to the study that links gout to soda consumption, just two sodas a day can increase the chances of getting gout by 85 percent!

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of British Columbia gave food frequency questionnaires to a large swath of volunteers, nearly 46,400 men over 39 years of age. Over a seven year period, the researchers kept track of the men to see what conditions, if any, they fell victim to. The men observed contracted illnesses and conditions of various kinds, but perhaps the most striking finding was how many contracted gout – 755 individual incidents!

Naturally, the researchers pored over the participants’ food questionnaires to see if there was a common thread in what the gout-afflicted men ate or drank. As it turned out, the amount of soda consumed was the common denominator; how much the soda-drinking gentlemen guzzled increased the likelihood of their getting gout. For example, according to their findings, five to six glasses of a sugary soft drink increased the risk of men getting gout approximately 30 percent compared to those that consumed a soft drink sparingly (i.e. once a month). But that risk almost tripled if the men consumed several soft drinks a day – their risk of getting gout was 85 percent higher than those who sparingly drank soda.

Of course, there are other risk factors that contribute to developing gout – family history, frequent alcohol consumption, being male, being 40-years-old or older – but the researchers say soda consumption was independent of those risk factors.

This is certainly a black eye on the soda industry, a mark they’re probably getting used to these days with all the negative aspects associated with America’s favorite effervescent brew. And if soda pop doesn’t decrease in popularity soon – a product consistently among the top items sold in grocery stores – Americans will have a common condition to commiserate about: gout.