A Painful Condition Is Rising in Young Men. Scientists Are Racing to Figure Out Why.

For most people, their bloodstream and kidneys help clean up the uric acid and then they pee it out. But in gout sufferers, uric acid builds into those needle-sharp crystals, which tend to accumulate in the body’s extremities. Justin Radam, a Toronto barber, started having gout flares in his early 30s. Insulin resistance, for one, is currently climbing steeply among adolescents, and scientists are studying the condition’s role in uric acid buildup. Other medications, like allopurinol, are prescribed for long-term daily use and help manage crystal buildups by limiting the body’s uric acid production.