How Do You Prevent Gout

What Can You Not Eat With Gout

Foods rich in purines must be avoided if you have gout. Purines are a type of chemical that produce uric acid in the body. They are naturally found in the body and can also be found in certain foods. The main modification in the diet traditionally involves eating a low-purine diet. Although avoiding purines completely is not possible, you should strive to limit them.

Both moderate and high-purine foods and drinks must be avoided if you have gout. These include

• Alcohol is a majortrigger for gout attacks. This is because when you drink alcohol your kidneys filter it out instead of uric acid. This leads to the build-up of uric acid in the body. All alcoholic beverages are bad for gout. Beer is especially bad for gout since it is rich in purines.
• Certain fish, seafood and shellfish, including anchovies, trout, sardines, herring, codfish, mussels, codfish, scallops and haddock
• Organ meats such as liver, kidney, sweetbreads and brain. People with gout, however, can have a moderate intake of lean meats such as chicken and turkey.
• Red meat including bacon, turkey, veal and venison
• Dried beans and peas
• Food products containing a high amount of fructose such as soda and some juices, cereal, ice cream, candy and junk food

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There are certain medications that can raise the levels of uric acid, thereby increasing the risk of gout. These include diuretics , acetylsalicylic acid and some medications that are taken after an organ transplant. Levodopa and some cancer medications can also increase the risk of gout.

If you take any of these medications, it’s best to discuss with your doctor whether it would be possible to switch to a different medication.

Medications For Acute Gout

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Additional Tips For Treating Gout Naturally

Studies show that many of the dietary items we consume lead to gout as well as other health problems. Changing your diet and lifestyle may be the easy solution to beating gout. One of the first things to do is eliminate certain foods and beverages from your diet to beat gout.

1. Eliminate or reduce sugar intake

As many studies are now illustrating, gout is common in people with excessive sugar intake, especially high fructose corn syrup Its wise to read the labels of all your food and drinks. If you find HFCS then eliminate that from your diet. In addition, look for sugar added under the guise of other common names for sugar look for cose at the end of words and these are probably types of sugar you dont want to be consuming.

2. Eliminate grains

Grains in the body are converted to sugars so again you want to limit or avoid grains altogether. They are also very inflammatory to your body.

3. Limit alcohol consumption

Again, alcohol becomes sugar once ingested so eliminate this completely unless you have a healthy body already. Any substance that will be converted to one or another type of sugar by the body should be avoided at all costs. In order to get your uric acid levels down you must consistently avoid sugar in your diet.

4. Eliminate soda and diet soda

5. Consume cherries and strawberries daily

6. Exercise

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Whats The Outlook For People With Gout

Untreated gout can lead to permanent joint damage. The buildup of uric acid in the joints and soft tissue is called tophus. Some people with gout can also develop other health problems, such as severe arthritis, kidney stones and heart disease. Its important to discuss your symptoms with a healthcare provider.

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Dieting And Weight Loss To Prevent Gout

Losing weight may help lower your uric acid levels and reduce your risk of future gout attacks. A 2017 review of studies in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases suggested that a weight loss of about eight pounds or more led to long-term reductions in uric acid levels and gout attacks in overweight or obese people.

How To Know If Your Gout Is Progressing

As you become more familiar with gout symptoms, you may be able to sense that a gout attack is coming on. Worsening of pain, swelling, redness, and warmth of the affected joint during the attack is the sign of progression of that attack, Dr. Meysami says.

In addition, the disease overall may progress with recurrent or more frequent gout attacks with longer duration, the involvement of more joints, and the presence of tophi, Dr. Meysami says.

If you have more than one gout flare a year, its really important to get on a regular gout medication, says Dr. Fields.

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Is There Any Homeopathic Prevention

A homeopathic approach to gout prevention includes, changing your eating habits where you consume less purine rich foods, losing and maintaining a healthy weight, staying hydrating and avoiding overconsumption of beer, alcohol, and high sugar drinks, and eating less sugar and processed foods. There are home remedies available for gout relief and prevention as well.

Lose Excess Weight Or Maintain A Healthy Weight

Obtaining and maintaining a healthy weight through diet and exercise helps reduce the risk of gout.3

Research evidence4 suggests that sudden, dramatic weight loss, such as after bariatric surgery, may increase the likelihood of a gout attack in the short term. In the long term, excess weight losssudden or gradualis an effective way to reduce risk.

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How Is Gout Affected By Diet

Gout is a type of arthritis that is associated with elevated levels of uric acid in the blood. High levels of uric acid can cause crystals to form in the joints, causing pain and swelling. Uric acid is a normal waste product formed from the breakdown of food, particularly compounds called purines. It is believed that lowering uric acid levels through small changes in your diet may help reduce the chance of future gout attacks.

A healthy, balanced diet may help reduce the risk of gout attacks.

I Have Read That Water Can Help Prevent Flare Ups Is There Any Reason Why Any Research To Back It Up Or Is It Just A Myth

Water acts as an apparatus that uric acid travels in during the elimination process by your body. During a gout attack it’s important to work towards lowering uric acid levels as the continued accumulation of them causes the creation of monosodium urate crystals that cause the painful inflammation and swelling of gout. Decreasing your uric acid levels can help manage the pain and can also decrease the duration of your gout attack by essentially ridding of the ‘fuel causing the fire’.

Think of this process like a train: the uric acid or passengers collect in the urine or train and when signaled, the urine leaves your body when you relieve yourself. When you don’t drink enough water, there aren’t enough trains for the passengers , so gradually the uric acid begins to accumulate and when that occurs it undergoes its crystallization process that ultimately leads to a gout attack.

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Can Gout Be Prevented

Its sometimes possible to prevent gout attacks and in some cases, reduce the severity of them. Eating a healthy diet that keeps the level of uric acid minimal, maintaining healthy body weight, and ensuring your medical conditions are treated can all help reduce the chances youll get gout. Staying hydrated can also help prevent gout, but you should drink non-sugary beverages to accomplish this.

There are some factors that increase the chance of gout that you cant control. For example, being a male is a risk factor. Men most commonly suffer their first gout attack between the ages of 30 and 50, but it may come on later in life. Women will typically suffer from gout after going through menopause.

A family history of gout and having to take certain medications, such as low-dose aspirin therapy, thiazide diuretics, and anti-rejection drugs, all increase the risk of developing gout. Gout is also caused by having to have surgery on a joint or having trauma to the joint.

How Does Drinking Alcohol Affect Gout

Alcoholic drinks tend to be high in purines and consuming more than the recommended amount can increase the risk of a gout attack. It is therefore recommended to limit alcohol intake, avoid binge drinking and avoid all alcohol if you have painful gout or are having a gout attack. Try limiting alcohol to a maximum of 14 units per week for both men and women and 1-2 units per day with a minimum of two alcohol-free days a week. Beer, stout, port and fortified wines tend to be higher in purines and should be restricted. Moderate consumption of wine is not associated with a significant increased risk.

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Pathophysiology And Risk Factors

• References

Genetic mutations may be associated with overproductionor more often underexcretionof uric acid because of defects in the renal urate transporter system.6 The prevalence of gout increases with age and peaks at more than 12% in persons older than 80 years.1 Because female sex hormones increase urinary excretion of uric acid, pre-menopausal women have a substantially lower prevalence of gout compared with men .6 Black persons have a higher risk.7 Consuming alcoholic drinks , meat , some seafood , fruit juice, and beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup increases the risk of gout.8,9 Purine-rich foods such as nuts, oatmeal, asparagus, legumes, and mushrooms do not seem to increase the risk.10 Consumption of dairy products appears to confer slight protection from gout10 .

Diuretic use*

*Adjusted for age.

Adapted with permission from Roddy E, Doherty M. Epidemiology of gout. Arthritis Res Ther. 2010 12:223, with additional information from reference 12.

Diuretic use*

*Adjusted for age.

Adapted with permission from Roddy E, Doherty M. Epidemiology of gout. Arthritis Res Ther. 2010 12:223, with additional information from reference 12.

Hard nodules on distal digit.

• References

Can Losing Weight Help Gout

If you are overweight, gradual weight loss can help lower uric acid levels and reduce the risk of gout attacks. However, it is important to avoid fasting or crash dieting, where you go without adequate food for long periods and lose weight rapidly. This type of dieting can actually increase uric acid levels and trigger a gout attack. A combination of balanced healthy eating and regular physical activity is the best way to lose weight safely. Talk to your doctor or see a dietitian for advice.

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Avoid Alcohol And Sugary Drinks

The heavy consumption both of alcohol and of sugary drinks â such as sodas and sweetened juices â correlates with an increased risk of developing gout.

Alcohol and sweetened drinks also add unnecessary calories to the diet, potentially causing weight gain and metabolic issues.

2010 analysis of data from female participants in the Nursesâ Health Study found that gout risk decreased as coffee consumption increased.

Women who consumed 1 to 3 cups of coffee per day had a 22% reduction in their risk of gout compared with those who drank no coffee. Women who consumed more than 4 cups of coffee per day had a 57% decrease in their risk of getting this condition.

A handful of studies have also linked coffee consumption to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. A 2014 systematic review and meta-analysis of long-term coffee consumption found that people who consumed 3â5 cups of coffee per day had the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease.

As people with gout have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, drinking coffee may help improve their overall health.

2011 meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials found that vitamin C significantly reduced levels of uric acid in the blood.

Reduced uric acid levels could lower the risk of gout attacks. Research has not conclusively proven that vitamin C treats or prevents gout, however â only that it lowers uric acid levels.

Cherry Juice For Gout Management

Cherries and cherry juice are a popular folk remedy for gout, but the scientific evidence to support their supposed benefits is still coming in.

Nonetheless, theres reason to believe that cherries may help fight gout. They contain chemical compounds called anthocyanins, which have been shown to help reduce inflammation.

Cherries may also have a beneficial effect on uric acid levels.

One large study of people with recurrent gout found that eating cherries was associated with a lower risk of gout attacks, especially when cherry consumption was combined with taking a common uric acidlowering drug.

Despite these findings, experts say that more research is needed before any definitive recommendations can be made about cherries or cherry juice for gout.

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Place Ice On The Problematic Joint

Almost always medications will need some time to start reacting. Meanwhile, you can place a bag of ice on the problematic joint. This is more than just essential when it comes to keeping the pain under control. Of course, if you want to know how to stop gout attack, you will have to know that you must keep ice for 30 minutes per a day. Of course, this should be stretched in shorter intervals, so keep the ice several times for 5-10 minutes.

Ice isnt the key solution, but it is known that cold will reduce the blood vessels and the pain receptors while reducing the actual inflammation. As such, you can expect relief almost instantly. In addition, ice will also cool down the joint, obviously.

Dont try to prevent a gout attack using this method. I must add that this is simply an addition while waiting for the medications to start reacting. The method itself is unable to prevent an attack because the inflammation didnt occur at that moment.

Take Care Of Yourself

Get regular exercise and stay at a healthy weight. If you’re overweight or obese, your body has more uric acid. Weight loss may help lower it.

Get other health conditions under control. Gout is linked with high blood pressure, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and kidney disease. If you have any of those problems, get treatment.

Ask your doctor if you need to make changes to the medications you take. Aspirin, diuretics for high blood pressure, and drugs for people whoâve had an organ transplant can trigger gout. Your doctor can help you find other alternatives.

Drink more fluids. You may lower your odds of gout if you drink at least eight glasses of fluids a day. Make sure that at least half of that is water.

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Foods That May Help Prevent A Gout Attack

A gout prevention diet includes plenty of vegetables, fruits, and complex carbohydrates, including whole grains and beans. Such a diet may also include low-fat dairy products and cherries:

• Low-fat dairy products, such as skim milk and yogurt, may decrease the levels of uric acid in the blood and thereby decrease their risk of gout attacks.18 High-fat dairy products do not have the same protective effect.
• Cherries have long been thought to prevent gout flare-ups, and there is some scientific evidence to support this.19–23 Fresh or frozen tart cherries, 100% unsweetened tart cherry juice, or cherry extract may be beneficial. Avoid sweetened cherries, such as cherry pie filling.

Eating a healthy, plant-based diet and taking other preventative steps, such as drinking plenty of water, avoiding alcohol, and maintaining a healthy weight, can go a long way towards preventing gout, other types of arthritis, and heart disease.

Achieve A Healthy Weight

Obesity may be a primary consideration to reduce levels of uric acid in the blood. Insulin resistance is commonly seen in those who are obese and it may be involved in the development of gout. Insulin resistance has been shown to decrease the amount of uric acid that is cleared in the urine. A condition known as the âmetabolic syndromeâ is a cluster of symptoms which includes insulin resistance, along with tummy obesity, high blood pressure and abnormal blood fats â for example, high cholesterol. This condition is strongly associated with high uric acid levels, which can be improved with slow, gradual weight loss.

Weight loss has been shown to improve insulin resistance and therefore reduce uric acid levels in the blood. However, it is important to avoid strict diets such as low-carbohydrate and high-protein diets. These may increase consumption of purines, a compound that breaks down into uric acid. Additionally, rapid weight loss through strict dieting can result in breakdown of tissue. This can temporarily cause a rise in uric acid levels. A gradual, safe weight loss of 1-2 lbs a week can help to achieve an optimal body weight.

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