The UK Gout Society have produced a gout diet information sheet, in PDF format that can be printed out, which details important dietary facts that should help gout sufferers choose the foods that won’t, hopefully, aggravate their symptoms.

The file, which can be downloaded, includes details of the level of purines in certain foods including meats and vegetables. Also, it includes useful information on alcohol consumption and how it possibly contributes to gout.

I thoroughly recommend having a look at the gout diet health-sheet.

www.raysahelian.com: This site includes dietary and nutritional tips to control and reduce gout attacks including: the role of supplements, diets, effect of alcohol consumption, and latest clinical research.

Plus an explanation of gout 'tophi'.

www.health24.com: A list of factors are detailed on this site that may cause a gout attack. A discussion of anti gout drugs. Importance of weight-loss for overweight people.

Alcohol intake is also mentioned.

www.bupa.co.uk: This article on the UK's Bupa site describes an important study about the relationship between alcohol consumption and gout development. There is now strong evidence that diet - and more significantly lager/beer intake - certainly plays a role in gout disease expression.

It’s obvious from the many clinical studies that the importance of diet in gout maintenance cannot be overstated!

Whether diet can directly cause gout or not is still controversial, as there are possibly numerous factors involved, but diet can and does play a role in gout attacks, including aggravating and accelerating disease expression.

So is it possible to design a gout diet that accommodates your personal tastes while reducing the risk of painful gout attacks? I believe so.

First I would recommend reading the gout-diet factsheet from the UK Gout Society. Then sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and spend 30 minutes or so working out a daily diet plan that accommodates your personal tastes while reducing certain foods and food-type know to aggravate the condition. For example, avoiding foods very high in purines and limiting or dramatically reducing beer/lager consumption are the two main factors when considering your gout diet.

If you do include ‘high-risk’ foods in your anti-gout diet-plan, try to ensure they are consumed in small quantities, thus reducing the threat of irritating your gout.

Design a simple diet-plan like the following:

Many clinical and experimental studies have been conducted to identify both dietary and environmental risk factors that may contribute to the development of gout. But what is interesting is the growing evidence supporting a link between certain food and drink consumption and gout disease. Here’s some finding.

• In one study, women who were clinically obese had a 3-times greater risk of developing gout,
• In another, dairy product consumption demonstrated a protective effect against the disease.
• A study of nearly 50,000 men showed that lager/beer drinkers have a higher risk of developing gout than their wine drinking counterparts.
• Although the link between high-purine diets – like Atkins – has been suspected for a long-time, it was only proven in fairly recent study.
• One study suggested cherry juice may help alleviate pain and inflammation in gout patients.
• Another study suggested supplementation of vitamin C may also help reduce attacks.
• A study in an oriental tribe suggests in some cases genetics my play a role in acquiring the disease.
• In susceptible people, a study found diets high in seafood and certain meats may lead to gout development.
• Another study found dairy foods may offer some protective effect from gout.
• Beer consumption was again linked to the disease in a recent study.
• A study found that weight loss – for obese individuals – reduces the risk of the disease.
• In a Dutch study, cardiovascular risk indicators were associated to gout.
• Gout and diet were linked again in this study, where an increase of 20+% more meat per day increased the risk of developing gout by 7%.
• Apparently, men who had more sex were less likely to develop the disease – at least that’s good news!

The study below by Lee and colleagues discusses diet and gout. There are many gout books available suggesting that diet alone can alleviate the symptoms of gout in many cases. But is there any evidence to support this? Well, the study reviews evidence to support the role of diet in gout development and easing of symptoms.

Recent developments in diet and gout.

Authors: Lee SJ, Terkeltaub RA, Kavanaugh A.

Institution: aCenter for Innovative Therapy, University of San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA bVeterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis in men, affecting approximately 1-2% of adult men in Western countries. United States gout prevalence has approximately doubled over the past two decades. In recent years, key prospective epidemiological and open-labeled dietary studies, coupled with recent advances in molecular biology elucidating proximal tubular urate transport, have provided novel insights into roles of diet and alcohol in hyperuricemia and gout. This review focuses on recent developments and their implications for clinical practice, including how we advise patients on appropriate diets and alcoholic beverage consumption.

RECENT FINDINGS: Studies have observed an increased risk of gout among those who consumed the highest quintile of meat, seafood and alcohol (diet risk). Although limited by confounding variables, low-fat dairy products, ascorbic acid and wine consumption appeared to be protective for the development of gout.

SUMMARY: The most effective forms of dietary regimen for both hyperuricemia and gout flares remains to be unidentified. Until confirmed by a large, controlled study, it is prudent to advise patients to consume meat, seafood and alcoholic beverages in moderation, with special attention to food portion size and content of non-complex carbohydrates which are essential for weight loss and improved insulin sensitivity.

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed

Interesting study, in the future I’ll review more books on diet and gout. And I’ll include testimonials supporting the role individual diet and eating patterns may play in development of gout.

Experimenting with diet may help.

Several years ago I bought an ebook about arthritis which suggested that particular sensitivity to certain foods may be aggravating or causing arthritis.

After experimenting for a few weeks, I found that eating beef made my symptoms much worse. So stopped eating it for a few weeks and wow! No pain or swelling! I couldn’t believe it! Your readers may want to try a similar experiment.

E. R. Pottison