If you have the painful joint condition called gout, restricting your intake of several types of foods can help prevent occurrences or reduce their severity. Black pepper generally isn't bad for gout. In fact, some research indicates it has anti-inflammatory properties. Consult your doctor or nutritionist about the best diet to follow to stop gout attacks.
Gout
When an excess of uric acid develops in the body, it can accumulate in the synovial fluid around joints, forming uric acid crystals and causing inflammation. The result is a type of arthritis called gout. Acute gout attacks typically affect one joint and cause severe pain. You might experience one gout attack in your lifetime, or you might have attacks on rare occasions. Some people experience chronic gout, involving repeated episodes affecting more than one joint.
Foods and Beverages to Avoid
Reducing uric acid in the body by following a diet low in purines is the primary natural treatment for gout. Eating large amounts of meat and seafood and drinking too much alcohol are major risk factors for a gout attack. If you have experienced gout, limit your intake of meat, poultry and seafood to 4 to 6 ounces per day, and avoid organ meats and fatty seafood such as herring, anchovies, tuna, shrimp, lobster and scallops. Other foods containing high levels of purines include legumes, mushrooms, spinach, asparagus, cauliflower. Restricting your intake of fatty foods, such as gravy, fried foods, oily salad dressings and ice cream, also can help.
Spices
If you take medication for gout, you may not need a restrictive diet, according to MayoClinic.com. If you'd rather manage gout with diet, you might want to jazz up your meals with spices if the food seems too bland; boring meals can tempt you to consume more of the problem foods. Many recipes that are good for gout are available online and use spices, including black pepper, to add flavor. Foods-That-Heal.com, for example, provides a Mediterranean pasta recipe using fresh basil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and another recipe for bean soup with onions, garlic, rosemary, oregano, savory and freshly ground black pepper.
Research
While MayoClinic.com and National Library of Medicine websites don't list black pepper as an alternative remedy for gout, some research does indicate it has anti-inflammatory properties. A laboratory study published in the August 2010 issue of "Natural Product Communications," for instance, found that black pepper extract and its compounds inhibit some of the body's inflammatory chemicals by up to 80 percent. Black pepper extract also shows antioxidant and anticancer activity in the lab.
