Did you ever try the school science experiment of dangling a string in a saturated solution and returning a few days later to find that crystals had formed on the string? Hold that image in your mind as you read on, as it will help you understand how gout develops –

 

Gout, or gouty arthritis, usually appears in men over 40 years old. Commonly, the first a man knows about it is when he’s woken during the night with excruciating pain in his big toe. Often he can’t bear to have anyone touch the toe, or tolerate even the weight of bedding. Eventually the pain goes away. As the disorder progresses over the years, these ‘attacks’ of gout can become more frequent, last longer, and joints can start to deteriorate. Some men develop ‘tophi’, little lumps on the edges of their ears – this is a form of gout too.

 

The whole gout problem is a disorder of  how the body handles uric acid. This acid is produced from the normal metabolic processing of purines, a naturally occurring substance in food, but people with gout have trouble getting rid of it.

 

Usually the kidneys filter out excess uric acid and eliminate it. A person with gout could be over-producing uric acid, or not eliminating enough of it, or a combination of both. But if too much uric acid accumulates in the bloodstream, it has to go somewhere - crystals will tend to form and clump together. Unfortunately, they usually form in cooler areas with low circulation, like the joints of the big toe or the edges of the ears.

 

When urate forms crystals around a joint, it sets up an inflammatory reaction, resulting in extreme pain, and the production of more damaging molecules.  If the inflammation isn’t cleared away (that is, if urate crystal formation continues), the joint will start to deteriorate. Over time, the acute episodes of pain can become more frequent and last longer.

 

Although this disorder is partly inherited, most people with gout tend to have a diet high in acid-forming foods and alcohol, and low in water consumption.

 

Naturopaths sometimes classify foods into ‘acid-forming’ and alkaline-forming’ due to the effect they tend to have on the pH of the body. No prizes for guessing, the good, alkaline-forming diets are those high in unprocessed foods, low in fat and with a moderate level of protein. Acid-forming diets on the other hand, tend to be high in alcohol, coffee, black tea, red meat and processed foods.

 

Naturopathic treatment of gout includes change towards an alkaline-forming diet; excluding foods which tend to promote the formation of uric acid, and increasing water consumption to promote elimination through the kidneys. Why more water? Think back to that school experiment I mentioned earlier – a more dilute solution makes it harder for crystals to form.

 

I’ve posted some diet guidelines on this web site for you,  if you’re suffering from gout and would like to assess what you should be eating in more detail. Click Here to go to the gout diet sheet

 

 

 

Article © Olwen Anderson, 2008

Understanding Gout (and stopping it!)