How To Reduce Uric Acid

Content

• Lowering Uric Acid
• Food You Should Eat If You Have Gout
• Arthritis Home
• Making Dietary Changes
• Dietary Factors

Keep in mind that while what you eat can affect how much uric acid your body produces, the effects are small compared to medication. Some research indicates that people who drink coffee are less likely to develop gout. For example, a 2010 analysis of data from female participants in the Nurses’ Health Study found that gout risk decreased as coffee consumption increased. Drugs that raise uric acid levels may offer essential health benefits, however, so people should speak to a doctor before changing any medications. Staying hydrated can help reduce the risk of gout attacks.

Lowering Uric Acid

Maintaining a healthy weight, regular exercise, and avoiding foods high in purine are the best things you can do to manage your condition. Talk with your health care provider or registered dietitian if you need advice on how to make positive dietary changes to improve your health overall. Long-term coffee drinkers (4-6 cups per day) have less risk of developing gout than people who don’t enjoy the popular brew. Coffee’s ability to prevent recurring attacks of gout once you’ve had one bout are not as certain.

Drink 6 to 8 glasses of filtered water daily to help flush uric acid from the body. The disease should be diagnosed and treated by a doctor or a team of doctors who specialize in care of gout patients. This is important because the signs and symptoms of gout are not specific and can look like signs and symptoms of other inflammatory diseases. Doctors who specialize in gout and other forms of arthritis are called rheumatologists.

Food You Should Eat If You Have Gout

Learn which foods and beverages you should eat and which ones to avoid. Therefore, researchers recommend drinking plenty of water to avoid increased serum uric acid levels after activities that cause heavy sweating. Gout is an inflammatory form of arthritis that usually affects one joint at a time, commonly the big toe joint.

Some nutritionists recommend eight cups a day of liquids, at least half of them being water. Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the LIVESTRONG.COM Terms of Use , Privacy Policy and Copyright Policy . The material appearing on LIVESTRONG.COM is for educational use only.

What Is Uric Acid?

While some risk factors are impossible to change, there are many lifestyle changes that you can make to dramatically reduce your risk for developing gout and decrease your risk for frequent flares. Beer has a high purine content, which is converted to uric acid in the body. And a study found that alcoholic beer raises uric acid by 6.5% and nonalcoholic beer raises it 4.4%. Uric acid is a waste byproduct of purine breakdown in the body.

We reviewed lifestyle factors that influence serum uric acid levels and risk of gout flare, and how to improve their deleterious effects. Since obesity increases uric acid and weight gain increases gout risk, weight reduction by daily exercise and limiting intake of excess calories is recommended. However, strenuous exercise, which causes adenine nucleotide degradation; starvation, which decreases uric acid excretion; and dehydration may raise the level of uric acid in serum and trigger gout. Also, heavy alcohol drinking raises the uric acid level and increases the risk of gout through adenine nucleotide degradation and lactate production. Sweet fruits and soft drinks containing fructose should be moderated, since fructose may raise uric acid and increase gout risk through uric acid production and/or decreased excretion.

Which tablet is best for uric acid?

Your doctor may recommend one of these medicines that you can't get over the counter:Allopurinol (Aloprim, Zyloprim)reduces uric acid production.
Colchicine(Colcrys, Mitigare) reduces inflammation.
Febuxostat(Uloric) reduces uric acid production.
Indomethacin(Indocin, Tivorbex) is a stronger NSAID pain reliever.

It's important to lower uric acid levels to reduce your risk of gout and some types of kidney stones. While eating an abundance of protein-rich meats and seafood has been associated with an increased risk of gout, consumption of dairy products is correlated with a decreased risk of developing gout. Low-fat dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cheese are good sources of protein to substitute for meats and seafood . Staying hydrated has numerous health benefits, including for people with gout.

Getting Medical Help

These agents can raise blood pressure and blood sugar, so can be a problem for those with uncontrolled hypertension or uncontrolled diabetes mellitus. In a clear-cut case, a primary care physician can make the diagnosis of gout with a high level of confidence. However, often there are two or more possible causes for an inflamed toe or other joint, which mimics some of the symptoms of gout, so tests to identify the presence of uric acid is performed. These symptoms often come in waves with an acute attack lasting days to weeks at a time. Repeated attacks can lead to more chronic gouty arthritis, in which people feel pain that is ongoing although usually less severe than the classic flares. Talk to your doctor.You can play an active role in controlling your arthritis by attending regular appointments with your health care provider and following your recommended treatment plan.

Most people who have the condition experience these symptoms because their bodies can’t remove the excess uric acid efficiently. This lets uric acid accumulate, crystallize and settle in the joints. Gout is a type of arthritis that involves sudden pain, swelling and inflammation of the joints.