4. Coffee
Think twice before you pour a cup of coffee in the morning, especially if you are prone to gout. While it may help to make you more alert, it can also trigger a flare. Coffee contains caffeine, a diuretic, which means that it reduces the amount of water in your body. This is dangerous for anyone, but particularly for someone who has a history of gout. Uric acid crystals are suspended in your blood, but since coffee is a diuretic and cause dehydration, these crystals can collect in your joints, which can trigger a gout attack.