Weekly phone contact continued until the close out visit at 6 months, when weight was rerecorded, a food frequency questionnaire re-administered, pain diary entries reviewed, and a pill count performed to check compliance. A food frequency questionnaire was repeated. A record was made of the number of work days missed due to gout in preceding 6 months; days with reduced family and social activities due to gout in preceding 6 months; number of visits to a health care professional in the 6 months prior; number of urgent health care contacts (phone/ attendance) in 6 months prior; number of hospital admissions in 6 months prior. Subjects experiencing a flare in gouty arthritis will be managed according to usual clinical practice; if such therapy is felt necessary, the subject was withdrawn from the study at that point.