Posts Tagged Diet
Questions Being Raised About the Importance of Diet on Gout
Posted by Victor Konshin in Diet on August 27th, 2009
An article that will appear in the September Issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association calls into question the long held belief that those with gout need to maintain a “purine-restricted” diet. This article points out that some foods, such as some vegetables are very high in purines, yet research has consistently shown that consumption of these vegetables is strongly correlated with a reduction in uric acid levels and in gout attacks. Research has also shown that beer is strongly correlated with higher instances of gout even though modern beers often have very low levels of purines.
Although diet has long been assumed to be associated with hyperuricemia, this association remains to be verified. Studies that have reviewed the relationship of diet and hyperuricemia have found it to be a difficult and complex issue.
Gout and High Fructose Corn Syrup
Posted by Victor Konshin in Diet on June 1st, 2009
Last week I sent out a press release announcing my new, Beating Gout Starter Kit and got some surprising feedback. I received a letter from Audrae Erickson, President of the Corn Refiners Association criticizing my characterization of high-fructose corn syrup as a leading cause of gout, so I thought I would address the subject here.
The scientific research clearly shows that fructose has a direct metabolization path to uric acid. There have been several studies that have looking at soft drink consumption, both in it relationship to it ability to create uric acid in the body and directly as a cause of gout. These studies have shown a strong links between consumption of fructose and higher levels of uric acid and more frequent gout.
The Most Misused Gout Drug, Colchicine
Posted by Victor Konshin in Gout Treatments on May 19th, 2009
Gout is a disease that medical science obsessed over for, well, since medical science came into being. Only in the last fifty years has gout become a “forgotten” disease. Through this long and amazing history, gout has had a more or less faithful companion: the autumn crocus flower. It’s from the bulb of this flower that colchicine comes.
Some reports say that colchicine has been in use for over 6000 years while other reports say its a much newer drug that has only been in use for 2000 years. Regardless, it is still considered to be a first line drug by many doctors. Unfortunately, those doctors are grossly out-of-date. Not only in using colchicine first, but also in how they use it…
Is Gout Dangerous?
Posted by Victor Konshin in General on April 6th, 2009
The overwhelming belief by most doctors is that gout is a relatively benign disease – that is, it may cause a lot of pain but really doesn’t cause too many problems otherwise. Unfortunately this belief is wrong. Gout is dangerous in a couple different ways. First is the damage that gout attacks directly cause. Second is the underlying cause of gout, a condition called hyperuricemia is associated with many very serious and life-threatening diseases.
The Damage of Gout Attacks
As described in one of my previous post, Gout Basics, gout is cause by an immune response to uric acid crystals that form in the joints. This immune response causes much inflammation, which is the actual source of the pain of a gout attack. This inflammation also damages the joint slightly. If gout is not properly managed, over the course of years and many gout attacks, this damage can accumulate and cause constant pain in the joint, limiting of the mobility of the joint (the joint will become stiff and painful to move), it will cause boney changes in the joints called punch-out lesions (where the bone grows in abnormal ways) and ultimately, it will cause the gout to become completely immobilized.
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The ‘Skinny’ on Gout Diets
Posted by Victor Konshin in Diet, Gout Treatments on April 2nd, 2009
Diet is the most common method dragged out as a means of controlling gout but as I have written in previous posts, diet alone can almost never eliminate gout. Research has shown that diet, even tightly controlled diets can reduce uric acid levels by at most 1-2mg/dL (55-110µmols/L). This can ‘cure’ gout only if your uric acid levels are just over the level where gout becomes possible. For example, gout is only possible in people with uric acid levels above 6.8mg/dL (380µmols/L). If your uric acid level is normally 8mg/dL(440µmols/L), then with a very tightly restricted diet, you might be about to pull it off, but if you slip up — you’re in trouble. If your uric acid level is normally 9mg/dL(500µmols/L) then the best you can manage is 7mg/dL(390µmols/L) which would definitely reduce the number of attacks, but can never eliminate them entirely.
What’s more interesting is that the most commonly referred to diet for people with gout is a “low purine diet” but few people, even medical professionals, really understand what this means. Yes, they may pull out some old chart that tells you to stay away from shellfish, beer and asparagus — among others, but you need to know these lists are only just guesses.
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