6 Foods To Prevent Gout Or Relieve A Gout Attack

Content

• How To Prevent Gout
• Is The Mediterranean Diet Best For Diabetes?
• Top Best Diet For Gout What To Eat, What To Avoid Related Articles
• Risky Foods To Avoid With Gout No 5 Was Unexpected
• Treatment
• Health Solutions From Our Sponsors
• Tips For A Healthy Gout Diet

At least half of what you drink should be water and try to stay away from sugary drinks like soda and fruit juice. Limiting alcohol consumption can also aid in preventing flare ups. While a healthy diet can help control how much uric acid is in your system, you may still need medicine to prevent future attacks. More recently, experts have begun thinking about diet differently. Instead of trying to figure out which individual foods you should avoid, the focus is on following a healthy diet and trying to lose weight if you're overweight or obese. But limit sweetened drinks and alcohol, which can increase uric acid levels.

Though you cannot cure gout with diet changes, you can decrease the risk of gout flare-ups and long-term damage to your joints. Here are a few rules of a gout diet, including foods to avoid and foods to eat more of when you have gout. A gout diet helps in decreasing uric acid build up within the joints. Your body makes uric acid after it breaks down a substance called purine, which is found in many foods. So one key to managing your gout is to lower the amount of purines you eat. Although this is not a cure, it lowers the risk of experiencing a gout attack.

How To Prevent Gout

You need to avoid foods high in purine to prevent high levels of uric acid in the blood. Several studies suggest that regular coffee-drinking can lower your long-term gout risk. This is true for both decaf and caffeinated coffee, although the improvement seems to be stronger with caffeine. On the other hand, some studies have found that women who drink coffee have more uric acid in their blood, which is thought to be a cause of gout attacks.

You’re a bit better off if your occasional indulgence is beef or pork rather than lamb, says Dr. Zashin. Gout is incredibly painful, but did you know that there are certain foods that can make it even worse? Watch this video to learn which foods you definitely shouldn't eat if you have gout. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles.

Is The Mediterranean Diet Best For Diabetes?

Since fruit also contains fructose, which is linked with increased uric acid levels, opt for lower-fructose options. Grapefruit, oranges, pineapples and strawberries are high in vitamin C, but lower in fructose. Alcoholic beverages can increase the risk of gout attacks. When the body breaks down alcohol, uric acid is produced and excretion of uric acid in the urine is slowed down.

Other forms of arthritis can resemble gout, so careful and proper diagnosis is key for the treatment and management of gout. Gout is suspected when a patient has joint pain, swelling and redness usually of the joints of the lower extremity. Obtaining a careful history from the individual is equally important to pick up on the clues suggestive of gout.

Top Best Diet For Gout What To Eat, What To Avoid Related Articles

Also, avoid organ and glandular meats, such as liver, kidney and sweetbreads, which also have high purine levels. There are various reasons why alcohol can trigger gout attacks. On the one hand, it increases uric acid production and reduces the amount of uric acid expelled by the kidneys.

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.

Help you discover how to apply it to your current health condition. Glucose and other simple sugars, on the other hand, have no effect on uric acid. Fructose intake, and not glucose intake, is strongly linked with gout.

Treatment

Asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, and mushrooms are higher in purines than other vegetables. But if you like these foods, there’s no reason to avoid them completely, says Sandon. But it is okay to eat some types of red meat once in a while.

Research shows that some foods, such as dairy products, may actually help reduce the number of gout flares. Drinking alcohol, especially beer, is a significant gout risk factor. Studies have suggested that drinking two or more beers a day can double the risk of a gout attack. So limit the amount of alcohol you drink, or avoid it completely. Gout is a form of arthritis that happens when the uric acid levels in your blood get too high. Commonly affected joints include your big toe, ankles, elbows, knees, wrists, and fingers.

Are bananas good for gout?

Bananas are low in purines and high in vitamin C, which make them a good food to eat if you have gout. Changing your diet to include more low-purine foods, like bananas, can lower the amount of uric acid in your blood and reduce your risk of recurrent gout attacks.

Cashews are a great source of plant-based protein and healthy fat, and they are very low in purine levels—even compared to other nuts. That means cashews are a great snack choice for people with gout. Most vegetables are low in purine, and are great options for anyone at risk of gout or a gout attack. Berries are an especially good choice, because they tend to be high in fiber and low in sugar. Citrus fruits are also especially helpful, because vitamin C has been shown to reduce uric acid levels.

Additionally, the DASH diet, which encourages many low-purine foods, has been associated with a lower risk of gout. Foods high in vitamin C include citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, and grapefruit, cherries, spinach, kale, broccoli, strawberries, sweet bell peppers, and tomatoes. If you have an increased risk for kidney stones , it is not recommended to consume high doses of supplemental vitamin C on a regular basis. Uric acid is a waste byproduct of purine breakdown in the body. Purines are naturally produced in the body, as well as found in some foods. Normally uric acid is either reabsorbed in the body or excreted via the urine and feces.