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Gout and 'Podagra' in medieval Cambridge, England - PubMed International journal of paleopathology.

"The high prevalence rate of gout in the friary is at least partly explained by the consumption of alcohol and purine-rich diets by the friars and the wealthy townsfolk. Medieval medical texts from Cambridge show that gout (known as podagra) was sometimes treated with medications made from the root of the autumn crocus. This root contains colchicine, which is a medicine that is still used to treat gout today."

"Additional studies that assess the epidemiology of gout in medieval Europe is needed in order to be able to fully contextualize these findings."

Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

gout medieval podagra cambridge root pubmed colchicine crocus