A diet that’s best known for promoting heart health may also significantly reduce blood levels of uric acid – a key factor in the development of gout, according to a new study published online recently inArthritis & Rheumatology. TheDASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet它是由一个政府资助的合作研究机构在近20年前开发出来的，目的是降低高血压。在这项新研究中，研究人员发现，在某些情况下，DASH还可以像药物一样降低尿酸水平。
Continue readingHeart-healthy DASH Diet May Also Help Prevent Gout
痛风是已知的最古老的人类疾病之一，可以追溯到公元前2600年，但一项新的研究表明，病人对这种疾病仍不太了解。The study, published online in January 2016 inArthritis Care & Research,found that just 14% of patients with this painful type of inflammatory arthritis actually knew what their uric acid level should be.
“It is an old disease for which there are really effective treatments and despite that, understanding of treatment goals is suboptimal. It is somewhat surprising,” said study author Ted Mikuls, MD, the Umbach Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Ohama. “Patients have pretty good knowledge of what causesgoutand what drugs are used for, so the lack of knowledge about a treatment goal stood out.”
Continue readingGet Better Control of Your Gout
Most of us know how sugar affects our waistline. Too much of the sweet stuff contributes to obesity, and with it, diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Overdoing it on one type of sugar in particular—the high fructose corn syrup found in sodas and processed foods—can also set off painfulgout. Considering that the average American eats 22 to 30 teaspoons of sugar daily, gout is yet another health risk worth noting.
Fructose is a natural sugar found in fruit and honey. High fructose corn syrup is a man-made sweetener produced from corn. It’s composed of 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose. Why is this type of sugar harder on your joints than other forms, like glucose? “Fructose is metabolized differently from glucose,” explains Peter Simkin, MD, emeritus professor of medicine in the University of Washington School of Medicine division of Rheumatology.
As the body breaks down fructose, chemical compounds called purines are released. The breakdown of purines produces uric acid—the substance that forms painful crystals in the joints and causes gout. Within minutes after you drink high fructose corn syrup-sweetened soda, your uric acid levels rise.Continue readingFructose and Gout: What’s the Link?
Nearly two-thirds of Americans start their day with a cup or more of coffee. Besides its wake-up java jolt effect, coffee could be good for your health. Studies have linked regular coffee consumption with a lower risk for heart disease, some types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes, among other conditions.
你早上喝的咖啡也能帮助预防痛风发作吗?虽然一些证据表明，这种流行的饮料可能有助于避免关节疼痛，但如果你已经有痛风，它所含的咖啡因实际上可能会导致更多的疼痛。
A 2007 study investigated the potential link between coffee intake and gout risk among nearly 46,000 men. The authors found that men who drank four to five cups of coffee a day had a 40 percent lower relative risk of gout compared to men who weren’t coffee drinkers. Decaf coffee also modestly lowered gout risk, but tea didn’t have any effect, suggesting that something other than caffeine is responsible for the effect on gout.
Continue readingDoes Coffee Help or Hurt Gout?
Beer and hard liquor have long been known to increase the risk ofgout, the most common form of inflammatory arthritis, but according to a 2014 study inThe American Journal of Medicine, wine also can contribute to recurrent gout attacks.
Gout occurs when excess uric acid builds up around joints – often in the big toe, but also in the feet, ankles, knees, wrists and elbows – leading to episodes of intense pain, redness and swelling. It affects more than 8 million adults in the United States, and the numbers are rising sharply, due mainly to obesity and other lifestyle factors.
Vitamin C has been touted as a preventive for problems ranging from cancers to the
common cold. But can a daily vitamin C supplement protect you fromgout? Possibly, researchers say, but results of studies on vitamin C and gout are mixed.
In a 2009 study published in theArchives of Internal Medicine波士顿大学医学院的Hyon K. Choi医学博士指出，男性服用的维生素C越多，他们患痛风的可能性就越小。
During the 20 years that researchers studied nearly 47,000 men, 1,317 of them developed gout. But the risk was not shared equally. For every 500-milligram increase in vitamin C intake, the risk for gout fell by 17 percent. The risk dropped by 45 percent when study participants took more than 1,500 mg of vitamin C a day.
If you are trying to lower your risk of gout or reduce your risk of painful attacks once you have it, one of your best defenses may be to achieve or maintain a healthy weight.
“Higher weight is associated with higher uric acid levels in the blood, which therefore increases gout risk,” says Tuhina Neogi, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. Gout occurs when uric acid builds up in the body and then crystallizes in the joints, causing intense and often crippling pain, inflammation, stiffness and swelling.
In 1991, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that men who gained excessive amounts of weight in young adulthood were more likely to develop gout later in life, with the greatest risk occurring with the highest body mass index (BMI) at age 35.
Continue readingControlling Your Weight May Be Effective For Lowering Gout Risk