Gout is simply a disease in which the amount of uric acid in the body is too high, or the excretion of uric acid is impaired, resulting in excessive deposits of uric acid salts in the blood and tissues, mainly in the joints, causing swelling and pain. Since many famous kings and generals in Western history suffered from gout, gout is also called “emperor’s disease”. In a normal human body, uric acid is produced every day and an equal amount of uric acid is excreted from the body to maintain the balance. Gout tends to occur in middle-aged and older men, but recently there has been a tendency to increase in the younger age group as well. This is quite related to the improvement of living standards and changes in dietary habits (i.e., a great increase in the consumption of animal protein, fat and alcohol).