Gout is a metabolic disorder that primarily affects middle-aged men, though it sometimes affects women during menopause. According to WholisticHealthWorks, gout is also known as 'Rich Man's Disease' because it is often provoked by eating excessively rich foods, high in animal and plant proteins, called purines, which make the body acidic. Purines, protein compounds found in many common foods, such as cranberries, are responsible for an excessive amount of uric acid in the body and are considered to be a major causative factor in gout.
Effects of Gout
Though gout generally affects the first metatarsal phalanges joints, the big toes, it may also affect other joints, including hands, knees and elbows. Signs and symptoms of gout include pain, swelling, local tenderness, malaise and fever. Due to the location and severity of the pain associated with these conditions, other conditions that may imitate gout include joint infections, tendinitis, joint inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis.
Prevention and Treatment of Gout
Medications used to treat gout include NSAIDs, like Motrin and Advil, Allopurinol (Zyloprim), Colchicine or corticosteroids. However, symptoms usually abate with a change in diet to decrease rich and acidic foods. Prevention and medical treatment of gout attacks is necessary to alleviate the painful symptoms and to prevent future attacks from occurring. Occasionally, recurrent gout may be so disfiguring that surgical intervention is required.
Gout & Cranberries
According to Springboard4Health, patients with gout are often advised to adhere to an 'Alkaline Ash Diet,' a diet that minimizes intake of acidic foods. On this diet, alcohol and caffeine, fried foods, organ meats and red meats, seafood and vegetables containing acidic purine proteins, such as spinach, asparagus, mushrooms, peas, beans and roasted peanuts are omitted. Careful selection of fruits is important, as some may be contraindicated in gout. However, cranberries and cranberry juice, plums, prunes and corn are also highly acidic and should also be avoided, as they aggravate gout by increasing body acidity.
Considerations
It is not uncommon for a person with gout to also be over-weight; weight loss is also important to treating gout, and these recommended dietary restrictions for gout are sure to be helpful in the promotion of weight loss. As an aside, people living with recurrent gout, when combined with being overweight, often have elevated blood pressure and may be at-risk for developing kidney stones, kidney damage, heart attack or stroke.
Prevention/Solution
Beyond diet, other factors contributing to gout include: lead poisoning, diuretics, some medications including penicillin and insulin, Down's syndrome, fatigue, arthritis and alcoholism. The focus of dietary changes in treating gout is to consume foods that are low in acid and higher in alkalinity to decrease uric acid levels in the body. Avoiding high-acidity foods such as cranberries, is important to prevention of gout. Drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water per day is also an effective self-help measure to remove excess uric acid from the body.
