Find out gout’s favorite vitamin

Fight gout with this popular vitamin

The connection between gout and Vitamin C has been the subject of a few studies over the past 30 years. You may have read in the news about a recent New Zealand study about Vitamin C and gout. The study claims that taking vitamin C supplements daily doesn’t lower uric acid levels as much as drugs do. This is a study that only evaluated 40 people for about 8 weeks! Is this study supposed to debunk the other 20 year study of nearly 47,000 men (done between 1986 and 2006) taking vitamin C supplements which showed to decrease uric acid levels and ease inflammation of gout sufferers? Hmm…I wonder if Big Pharma had anything to do with this study getting so much publicity? Gotta push that Colchicine and Allopurinol, we got the quarterly report coming up and we must boost sales and profit!

In the same study from the Boston University School of Medicine, 1317 men, developed gout during this 20 year period. The study found that those who took 1,000mg to 1,499mg per day had a 34% lower risk of gout and those who took 1,500mg per day had a 45% lower risk. Note that this was irrespective of other gout risk factors such as diet and alcohol use.

The lowdown on the latest vitamin C study and gout.

Going back to our original study that came out a couple months ago, the researchers split 2 groups of 20 people with gout, the first group was already taking allopurinol and the second group were not. The first group was told to either increase their dose of the medicine or also take 500 milligrams of vitamin C supplements every day. The second group who were not already taking medication were either started on allopurinol or told to take a 500mg vitamin C supplement every day. At the beginning of the 8 week study, the of uric acid levels in the patients’ blood was 9 mg per decilitre on average. The researchers said a healthy uric acid level falls below 6.5 mg per decilitre. In both cases, patients who started taking vitamin C, with or without allopurinol, did not see a significant decrease in uric acid levels. There was, however, a significant decrease in the uric acid levels of the patients who started on allopurinol, about 3 mg per decilitre and in those who were on the drug but increased their doses, about 1.6 milligrams per decilitre decrease, the study claimed. At the end the researchers concluded that vitamin C had no effect but this was quickly dismissed by Dr. Tim Bongartz, a rheumatologist from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who basically said that it’s difficult to make any firm conclusions from the new study, because it would take about 200 participants in each group to see a difference. He also added that even if the study could reproduce the results of past studies of people without gout, it probably wouldn’t bring people’s uric acid levels below the threshold of 6.5 milligrams per decilitre and it doesn’t mean medication is the only answer. Dr. Bongartz went on to say that there are other measures that can help gout sufferers drop their uric acid levels and the most important one being for obese individuals to lose weight. At the end fellow gout sufferer, it is you that must discern, properly breaking down the evidence and make your own decision on what to believe is fact or fiction from the information provided here. Don’t take my word for any of the information and recommendations provided by myself on this website, do your own homework and make your own conclusions from the information you process.

What are the benefits of vitamin C?

Now let’s take a closer look at vitamin C, it has many health benefits which include boosting your immune system, helps us detoxify, protects against cardiovascular disease, helps with good bacteria in the gut, eye disease, removes heavy metals from our bodies and many other benefits. Try to include it in your diet from fresh raw foods like oranges, cantaloupe, broccoli, red peppers, chili peppers, rose hips, parsley, kiwi fruit but make sure all of that stuff is organic! I personally take a supplement of vitamin C daily of 500mg and have been for years now, I buy the big bottle from Costco’s brand Kirkland, lasts me for 500 days! Remember vitamin C is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. Remember, that vitamins and drugs operate in 2 different ways in order to reduce uric acid levels. Drugs like allopurinol restricts its’ supply by inhibiting purine breakdown into uric acid and vitamins like vitamin C improve uric acid’s excretion in the urine. Improving excretion may be more important for you than lowering production.

I’m not saying Vitamin C is a cure-all for gout but when combined with other vitamins for gout, a low purine diet and the other natural remedies for gout described elsewhere on this website, it could be very useful, my fellow gout sufferer. If you do take vitamin C, make sure to drink plenty of water and check your urine pH regularly to avoid excess acidity or you can take an Ester-C version of Vitamin C, because it is non-acidic.

Which foods to avoid if you have gout

When I was diagnosed with gout, I remember researching on the net about it and coming across this keyword that kept popping up article after article, this word was “purines”. When reading or hearing this word, my brain has this strange association with Purina Cat Chow even to this day! So what is this “purines”, what does it consist of and why must gout sufferers cut down on it, if they want to lower their uric acid levels.

A great article explains this natural substance very well:

“Purines are natural substances found in all of the body’s cells, and in virtually all foods. The reason for their widespread occurrence is simple: purines provide part of the chemical structure of our genes and the genes of plants and animals. A relatively small number of foods, however, contain concentrated amounts of purines. For the most part, these high-purine foods are also high-protein foods, and they include organ meats like kidney, fish like mackerel, herring, sardines and mussels, and also yeast.”

It then goes on to explain how purines are metabolized into uric acid:

“When cells die and get recycled, the purines in their genetic material also get broken down. Uric acid is the chemical formed when purines have been broken down completely. It’s normal and healthy for uric acid to be formed in the body from breakdown of purines. In our blood, for example, uric acid serves as an antioxidant and helps prevent damage to our blood vessel linings, so a continual supply of uric acid is important for protecting our blood vessels.

Uric acid levels in the blood and other parts of the body can become too high, however, under a variety of circumstances. Since our kidneys are responsible for helping keep blood levels of uric acid balanced, kidney problems can lead to excessive accumulation of uric acid in various parts of the body. Excessive breakdown of cells can also cause uric acid build-up. When uric acid accumulates, uric acid crystals (called monosodium urate crystals) can become deposited in our tendons, joints, kidneys, and other organs.”

A low purine diet is beneficial for us gout sufferers:

“Because uric acid is formed from the breakdown of purines, low-purine diets are often used to help treat conditions like gout in which excessive uric acid is deposited in the tissues of the body. The average daily diet for an adult in the U.S. contains approximately 600-1,000 milligrams of purines.

Recent research by Choi and others has shown that the impact of plant purines on gout risk is very different from the impact of animal purines, and that within the animal food family, purines from meat and fish act very differently than purines from dairy. Choi’s work has demonstrated that purines from meat and fish clearly increase our risk of gout, while purines from vegetables fail to change our risk. Dairy foods (which can contain purines) actually appear to lower our risk of gout. In summary, this epidemiological research (on tens of thousands of men and women) makes it clear that all purine-containing foods are not the same, and that plant purines are far safer than meat and fish purines in terms of gout risk.”

These are the foods to avoid that contain the highest purine levels (up to 1000mg per 3.5 ounce serving):

• Mincemeat (cut down on those burgers!)
• Anchovies
• Brains, Kidneys, Liver, Animal hearts (my advice is not too even touch organ meats)
• Gravies
• Sardines
• Sweetbreads
• Yeasty foods
• Mackerel
• Mussels
• Herring
• Beer and other alcoholic beverages

These foods are to be limited since they contain moderately high purine levels (5-100mg per 3.5 ounce serving):

• Asparagus
• Beef
• Chicken
• Chicken soup
• Lobster
• Lima Beans, Navy beans, Kidney beans, lentils & peas
• Mushrooms
• Pork
• Oatmeal
• Tuna
• Turkey
• Shellfish
• Bacon
• Rabbit
• Veal
• Oysters
• Cauliflower
• Duck
• Goose
• Ham
• Lamb
• Snapper, Trout & Halibut fish
• Perch
• Spinach

So what do you notice from these foods that are high in purines? What they all have in common is that most of the foods are very high in protein, mainly meat and fish. So limit your meat intake mostly cause fish is healthier for you since it is considered the best source of protein and has very little fat, consisting of 3-5% of its calories as fat, whereas meat has 70-75% of its calories as fat. When we eat too much protein, its metabolism produces ammonia, urea and other waste products, that take seven to eight times more water to flush out through the kidneys than carbohydrates. The more meat you eat, the more stress you cause to your kidneys in trying to filter out the waste. As a gout sufferer, I strongly recommend a high carbohydrate diet rich in fruits and vegetables composing 80% carbs, 10% protein  and 10% fat.

As a side-note, when it comes to the moderately high-purine vegetables like asparagus, beans or spinach, there is no reason for you to avoid them in raw form, provided you keep your portion sizes down. That’s the key with the meats and fish on the list, is to keep the portions small, we all heard the general rule for meat portion sizes should be  the size of the palm of your hand.  I personally use to buy rib steaks cause it obviously had more flavor from the marbled fat that juiced it while cooking it but now I mostly choose leaner red meats with less marbling, while they are harder to chew and taste more rubbery, they have less fat and are metabolized easier by your kidneys, lowering your risk of increasing your uric acid levels. But more than that, a high protein meat based diet has proven that it will kill you earlier. We will be examining that in a future post.

Finally here are low purine foods:

• Peanuts, walnuts, almonds
• Peanut & almond butter
• Milk, cheese & ice cream
• Whole wheat bread
• Pasta
• Rice
• Apples, bananas, pineapple, grapes, strawberries, pumpkin
• Lettuce, romaine
• Coffee and tea
• Chocolate
• Eggs
• Non-green veggies

Which foods are beneficial for gout sufferers?

One of the best fruits to eat when suffering from gout is cherries. Research has shown that consuming about 250 grams of cherries each day lessens or eliminates gout attacks by reducing blood uric acid levels. Drinking cherry juice is just as beneficial to gout sufferers as eating cherries. If you find it hard to drink so many glasses of water each day, substitute cherry juice for 2 or 3 glasses of water instead.

Dark berries may contain chemicals that lower uric acid and reduce inflammation. All berries that are dark red or blue contain flavonoids and anthocyanidins, beneficial antioxidants that enhance the collagen content of tendons and cartilages surrounding affected joints.

Tofu which is made from soybeans may be a better choice than meats. I like to cook it with basmati rice which is lower on the Glycemic Index and add various vegetables like broccoli, carrots, dried tomatoes etc…

Fatty acids found in certain fish such as salmon, flax or olive oil, or nuts  possess some anti-inflammatory benefits. The famous Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids that are soooo good for us…I use olive oil every day and my doctor has personally told me when doing my blood tests couple of years back, that he has never seen HDL cholesterol so high in years in any of his patients which can protect you from a heart attack and/or cardiovascular disease including arterial plaque buildup.

In conclusion,  a low purine diet is key to maintaining low uric acid levels for all gout sufferers. Purines are found in all protein foods and it is not recommended that all purines should be eliminated from your diet. Cut back on purines to control recurring gout attacks and if you notice that you get an attack after eating a certain type of food, experiment by cutting it completely from your diet, talk to your doctor about it too, to see if you might be allergic to that food.

Treating gout with apple cider vinegar

In this post I’ll be discussing a home remedy that I have been using for a few years now and a internet favourite remedy on health forums and websites, used as a cure-all to treat anything from diabetes, weight loss, blood pressure, acne, dandruff and of course gout. I’ll be discussing the age oldApple Cider Vinegar which has been used for at least 10 000 years to treat many different ailments and having been used as a condiment and preservative, utilized also for flavouring and healing purposes, deodorant, healing tonic and a preserver of youth. Christopher Columbus had barrels of apple cider vinegar on his ships to prevent scurvy and it was also used in the American Civil War to disinfect and heal wounds. All in all you can see that apple cider vinegar has many uses and you as a gout sufferer should include it in your diet.

Apple Cider Vinegar otherwise also known as cider vinegar or AVC, is a type of vinegar made from cider or apple must and has a pale to medium amber color. ACV is used in salad dressings, marinades, vinaigrettes, food preservatives, and chutneys, among other things. It is made by crushing apples and squeezing out the liquid. Bacteria and Yeast are added to the liquid to start the alcoholic fermentation process, and the sugars are turned into alcohol. In a second fermentation process, the alcohol is converted into vinegar by acetic acid-forming bacteria (acetobacter). Acetic acid and malic acid give vinegar its sour taste.

 Apple cider vinegar is full of nutrients like potassium, which helps remove toxins and excess water, iron, calcium and amino acids that reduce toxin buildup and serve as antibiotics. The main ingredient thought to be the most effective in treating and preventing gout is acetic acid. What happens is acetic acid is turned alkaline inside the body forming a pH balanced environment that prevents gout whereas having a pH balance that’s acidic can cause gout but shifting your pH balance toward alkaline can cure you of gout and prevent it from coming back. Do note that no research has been done to verify these claims.

Drinking apple cider vinegar breaks up the uric acid crystals and prevents them from reforming in the joints by aiding blood circulation and purification. It reduces inflammation and swelling in the joints allowing for better flexibility of the joints. AVC contains higher amounts of malic acid which explains the fact that consuming AVC in appropriate quantities is more beneficial to you than eating an apple directly. Many people have experienced relief from gout symptoms a few hours after using apple cider vinegar, while others have reported relief after a few days.

How to gout sufferers use apple cider vinegar?

For a full therapeutic effect one must take 2-3 tablespoons, 2 to 3 times a day. If you can manage to take it straight up with no dilution or sweetening, then go for it but if you do need to make your gout concoction taste better, mix it in a glass of water. You can also add a teaspoon of raw honey (not recommended for diabetics) and mix the AVC with your water or why not use some cherry juice with it for that double punch! Don’t forget to dress your salad with it too!

What type of AVC do I buy?

Make sure the AVC you buy at the store is organic and non-pasteurized, non-fermented making sure that it has not been processed and heated while still containing the nutrients, minerals and enzymes required to combat your gout symptoms. The clear AVC which you see at the supermarket and is cheaper than the organic-raw type has been heated and distilled removing many of the health benefits of apple cider vinegar. The raw type contains what we call “mother of vinegar”, which is a strand-like structure of living bacteria that is found in AVC and don’t forget to check the acetic acid content on the bottle. In addition, make sure not to use AVC as a substitute for other treatments or without a doctor’s consent and if you are allergic to apples this obviously won’t work for you.

As a topical treatment, when dealing with a gout attack, you can soak your foot for about 30 minutes in a bucket full of 4 cups of hot water and 1 cup of apple cider vinegar. You can also soak a clean, dry cloth in apple cider vinegar and wrap it around the affected area for about 15 minutes.

Apple cider vinegar can be very effective in relieving gout symptoms for many people. But not everybody will experience the same level of relief with ACV. I personally have used it for many years; I take it daily without fail. Apart from gout, I also use to have a problem with my oesophagus, with very bad heartburn. Since consuming AVC, I haven’t suffered from heartburn since. I strongly recommend this super-food in your daily diet.

15 dos and don'ts about diet for high uric acid levels

High uric acid level can be reduced with a change in diet. Doctors strongly recommend making simple changes in diet like eliminating beef rolls and choosing green leafy vegetables, cabbage and high fiber foods instead for regulating uric acid levels.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #1

High-fibre foods
According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, adding foods high in dietary fibre may help lower uric acid levels in your blood. Dietary fibre may help absorb uric acid in your bloodstream, allowing it to be eliminated from your body through your kidneys. Increase the consumption of dietary soluble fibres such as Isabgol, Oats, Spinach, Broccoli to name few.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #2

Cold-pressed olive oil
Use cold-pressed olive oil in cooking instead of shortening, butter or vegetable oils. Oils that have been subjected to heat or processing turn rancid quickly. Rancid fats destroy vitamin E in your body - this vitamin is necessary for controlling uric acid levels. Olive oil helps you avoid the production of excess uric acid, which is associated with the consumption of rancid fats.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #3

Take in a healthy dose of vitamin C
To help reduce the amount of uric acid in your system, regularly taking 500 milligrams of vitamin C will decrease your uric acid levels in a month or two.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #4

Avoid bakery products
Avoid cakes, pastries, cookies and other sugary delights which are rich in saturated fats and trans fats.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #5

Celery seed extract 
This is also a popular natural remedy for gout and uric acid problems. The seeds of the celery plant have long been used to treat gout, rheumatism and arthritis. Celery possesses sedative, antioxidant and mild diuretic action and is considered a urinary antiseptic. In rare cases, this herb is also used to treat sleeplessness, anxiety and nervous breakdown. Although the seeds of this plant are often used in herbal supplements, the roots may also be used.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #6

Antioxidant-rich foods
Fruits and vegetables such as red bell peppers, tomatoes, blueberries, broccoli and grapes are rich sources of antioxidant vitamins. Antioxidants which are vitamins that prevent free radical molecules from attacking your organ and muscle tissue cells may help lower uric acid levels.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #7

Cherries 
Cherries contain chemical compounds that may help neutralise uric acid allowing your body to eliminate this acid as waste. Some researchers recommend consuming 30 to 40 cherries every four hours during an attack.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #8

Apple cider vinegar
It is believed that raw, apple cider vinegar can help alleviate high uric acid levels by changing the pH values of your blood. But it has to be raw, un-distilled, un-pasteurised apple cider vinegar; the kind you get from your local health food store.

Dr Sharad advices a simple home remedy, "Add 2 teaspoons of vinegar to a large glass of water and stir thoroughly. Drink a glass between 2 and 3 times every day. You can also use it topically: half a cup added to three cups of hot water and soak the affected area for 30 minutes. Reheat and repeat as necessary."

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #9

Saturated fat, trans fat, sugar and alcohol
All these affect your triglycerides, a type of fat that can clog your arteries and increase your risk for heart attacks and strokes.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #10

High-fructose corn syrup 
This is a type of sweetener in soft drinks and other processed foods that can elevate your levels of triglyceride and uric acid - a chemical associated with diabetes, gout, alcoholism, kidney disease and other health problems.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #11

Drink plenty of fluids to help flush uric acid from your body
Drink a minimum of 3 and 1/2 liters of water daily. Water is a medium that aids the kidney to 'strain' the impurities from your body.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #12
Also avoid high-protein weight-loss diets which can cause you to produce too much uric acid (hyperuricemia).

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #13
Limit meat, poultry and fish - animal proteins are high in purine and this will result in high uric acid levels in the body

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #14

Limit or avoid alcohol
Alcohol interferes with the elimination of uric acid from your body. Drinking beer in particular has been linked to gout attacks. If you are prone to uric acid attacks, limit alcohol consumption to one drink three times a week.

Uric acid: Manage high uric acid with nutrition tip #15

Choose complex carbohydrates
Eat more whole grains, fruits and vegetables and fewer refined carbohydrates such as white bread, cakes and candy. Because foods rich in complex carbohydrates promote feelings of fullness, and prevent overeating and are useful in maintaining a healthy weight.