From shellfish to health scare: Anthony Anderson's unexpected gout journey

Anthony Anderson is living proof that your body will call you out when your lifestyle isn’t quite as balanced as you think.

The award-winning actor recently opened up about a surprising health scare that hit him while filming "K-Ville" in New Orleans back in 2007.

Anderson, enjoying a seafood-heavy diet (because, let’s face it, New Orleans is basically a shellfish paradise), ended up being diagnosed with gout, a painful form of arthritis.

“I was eating nothing but seafood and shellfish,” Anderson said during an episode of the "Armchair Expert" podcast. One dramatic scene required him to kick a door in, and the pain that followed made him think he’d broken his toe. It wasn’t a fracture, but a gout flare-up.

Gout occurs when uric acid builds up in the bloodstream and forms crystals in the joints, causing swelling, redness and serious pain.

According to the "Mayo Clinic", foods high in purines, such as shellfish, red meat and certain alcohols, can raise uric acid levels.

And Anderson’s seafood binge was the perfect storm.

“I put pressure on my right foot and I collapsed,” he recalled. “It looks red hot. If you put your hand above it, you can feel the heat coming off of it.”

Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at 29, Anderson was the first in his family to be formally diagnosed. That discovery exposed a hidden family history, his father had unknowingly lived with the condition for 25 years.

Though Anderson’s push encouraged his dad to get checked out, it came too late, and complications from diabetes ultimately caused his death.

The loss served as a powerful motivator. Anderson began paying attention to his symptoms, including fatigue, extreme thirst and frequent trips to the bathroom. “I was fat and fine,” he joked, but he knew something had to change.

Over time, he adjusted his diet and committed to regular exercise, learning to manage his diabetes and take his health seriously.

According to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, in 2020, approximately 55.8 million people worldwide were living with gout, reflecting a 22.5% increase since 1990. The age-standardised prevalence was 659.3 per 100,000 population.

Notably, the prevalence in males was 3.26 times higher than in females.

In addition, recent studies have highlighted that gout is more prevalent in South Africa than previously recognised.

A 2024 scoping review of 19 studies across sub-Saharan Africa revealed that the frequency of gout in South African studies ranged from 0.00047% to 0.74%.

While these figures may appear low, it's important to note that all the studies were hospital-based and retrospective, indicating a potential underestimation of the true prevalence in the general population.

Looking ahead, experts project that by 2050, the number of gout cases could surge by over 70%, reaching close to 95.8 million worldwide.