Category Archives: Prevention

DASH Diet for Gout

Heart-healthy DASH Diet May Also Help Prevent Gout

A diet that’s best known for promoting heart health may also significantly reduce blood levels of uric acid – a key factor in the development of gout, according to a new study published online recently in Arthritis & Rheumatology. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, which emphasizes fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products, was developed nearly 20 years ago by a government-funded research collaborative to reduce high blood pressure. In the new study, researchers found that in some cases, DASH may also lower uric acid levels almost as well as medications do.
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New Gout Resource from Arthritis Foundation

Let’s Speak Gout: Addressing A Treatable, Yet Often Untreated Condition

Did you know that Gout Awareness Day is held on May 22? In support of Gout Awareness Day today, we’ve launched a new tool to help those that suffer from the disease. Of the nearly 8.3 million adults living with gout, more than half experience multiple gout attacks each year. But having fewer or no gout attacks is possible. The Arthritis Foundation’s Let’s Speak Gout patient tool is now available to empower you to better manage your disease.
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Fructose Sugar Gout

Fructose and Gout: What’s the Link?

Most of us know how sugar affects our waistline. Too much of the sweet stuff contributes to obesity, and with it, diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Overdoing it on one type of sugar in particular—the high fructose corn syrup found in sodas and processed foods—can also set off painful gout. Considering that the average American eats 22 to 30 teaspoons of sugar daily, gout is yet another health risk worth noting.

Fructose is a natural sugar found in fruit and honey. High fructose corn syrup is a man-made sweetener produced from corn. It’s composed of 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose. Why is this type of sugar harder on your joints than other forms, like glucose? “Fructose is metabolized differently from glucose,” explains Peter Simkin, MD, emeritus professor of medicine in the University of Washington School of Medicine division of Rheumatology.

As the body breaks down fructose, chemical compounds called purines are released. The breakdown of purines produces uric acid—the substance that forms painful crystals in the joints and causes gout. Within minutes after you drink high fructose corn syrup-sweetened soda, your uric acid levels rise. Continue reading Fructose and Gout: What’s the Link?

Coffee Gout

Does Coffee Help or Hurt Gout?

Nearly two-thirds of Americans start their day with a cup or more of coffee. Besides its wake-up java jolt effect, coffee could be good for your health. Studies have linked regular coffee consumption with a lower risk for heart disease, some types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes, among other conditions.

Could your morning cup of Joe also help prevent bouts of painful gout? While some evidence suggests this popular beverage might help you avoid joint pain, the caffeine it contains might actually lead to more flare-ups if you already have gout.

Coffee and Gout Prevention

A 2007 study investigated the potential link between coffee intake and gout risk among nearly 46,000 men. The authors found that men who drank four to five cups of coffee a day had a 40 percent lower relative risk of gout compared to men who weren’t coffee drinkers. Decaf coffee also modestly lowered gout risk, but tea didn’t have any effect, suggesting that something other than caffeine is responsible for the effect on gout.
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Vitamin C Gout

Vitamin C May Help Prevent Gout

Vitamin C has been touted as a preventive for problems ranging from cancers to the
common cold. But can a daily vitamin C supplement protect you from gout? Possibly, researchers say, but results of studies on vitamin C and gout are mixed.

In a 2009 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Hyon K. Choi, MD, of the Boston University School of Medicine, showed that the more vitamin C men took, the less likely they were to get gout.

 During the 20 years that researchers studied nearly 47,000 men, 1,317 of them developed gout. But the risk was not shared equally. For every 500-milligram increase in vitamin C intake, the risk for gout fell by 17 percent. The risk dropped by 45 percent when study participants took more than 1,500 mg of vitamin C a day.

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