Gout attacks can be incredibly painful and unpleasant for sufferers. This can cause them to be hospitalized for day’s even weeks. Gout problems can sign of other serious health issues. Gouts can affect the state of your metabolic health, acute pain and arthritis. Unfortunately, gout attacks often get
worse over time. Rates of gout problems are currently rising in countries such as the UK, US and China. This makes it one of the most common inflammatory arthritis in the world.
Information about treating gout can be a bit confusing, especially for people with no background about this disease. This is mostly confusing due to the complete lack of understanding of the mechanism of the gout. Though, we have certain clues into how it works.
What is Gout and What Causes It?
Before we look through the foods to avoid, let’s understand the basics of gout. This is a form of joint inflammation caused by excessive amount of uric acid in the body. When the body exceeds its natural uric acid levels, painful crystals start to form in and around the joints.This can trigger the pain.
Foods to Avoid
Alcohol
This is an obvious thing to avoid for anybody, but this can cause serious negative effect on people with gout. Frequent consumption of alcohol can cause an increased risk of gout attacks. Studies have shown the regular consumption of alcohol in women can increase the risk of gout by three times than those who don’t consume any alcohol. For men the risk is twice as much than the non-alcohol drinker. The worst form of alcohol you can take is beer and one of the least are wines. Alcohol is bad for gout because it increases the uric acid levels.
Protein
Chicken, pork and other forms of meat can affect your gout. Over consumption of these proteins can trigger the symptoms of gout. This is due to the conversion of purines to uric acid. Meat and some type of seafood contain purine and this can be a prime reason of your gout attack. The regular amount of
meat according to a regular and well balanced diet is enough for your needed protein, but adding a serving more can increase your risk of gout by seven to twenty one percent
(depending on the meat). Meat is a far bigger trigger for gout than seafood. This is why seafood is better advised for gout sufferers. The advisable amount of meat everyday should be a 100 grams.
Organ Meats
If meat is bad for your gout, the worst part of you can ingest is the organs. The organs contain high amounts of purines that are extremely high in purines and should also be avoided at all cost. Foods that should that contains liver, heart, brain, kidney and intestines should be avoided.
Soft Drinks or Fruit Juice
Any added sugar diet can affect your gout. High fructose and glucose in fruit juice or soft drinks can affect the liver. Fructose is metabolized in the liver and the high intake of fructose is related to gout attacks. Recent studies have shown that adding two or more glasses of high fructose soft drinks will increase gout attack by eighty five percent. The real relation of gout and high fructose drinks are a bit hazy, but it is said that the fructose surges the breakdown of purine in the body and increases uric acid. Eating certain fruits are also bad for your gout. Fruits are high in fructose, avoid sweet fruits such as oranges, apples and so on.
Aspirin and diuretics
These aren’t exactly foods to avoid, but they are certainly something you shouldn’t ingest. Some common medication that you can intake for common ailments can increase your chances of gout attack. A specific medication that you should avoid is low doses of aspirin. This type of medication is usually
taken by middle aged adults to help prevent heart disease. If you have a family history of gout inform your doctor, they would be able to advise you a better aspirin and
diuretic alternative. The emphasis is the negative effects of low doses of aspirin. Though, high doses of aspirin (more than 3,000 mg) will promote the excretion of uric acid in the body.
The cause of gout is more than just eating the wrong things. While it is important to have a proper diet to reduce gout attacks, other factors can affect your gout such as lack of physical exercise, sleep apnea and family history. There are certain foods that can help reduce the attacks, this will be discussed in future articles. The best way to avoid making your gout worst is to prevent taking in any of your trigger
food. Understanding this disease and what you need to do to
control it is your best chance of curing it.
