Prevent Gout

Gout is sometimes thought of as an old-fashioned disease or "not a big deal", but in fact it is widespread and can cause serious pain if left untreated. While the direct cause of gout is high levels of uric acid in the bloodstream, your body's ability to create and process uric acid involves many different substances. Altering your diet is probably one of the most effective ways to prevent gout from developing, or to prevent your gout from becoming more painful or frequent. Reducing your weight or taking medication are additional options, often recommended along with a dietary change.

Steps

Eating Foods that Help Prevent Gout

1. Drink at least eight cups of water each day. Painful episodes of gout occur when a substance called uric acid causes salt crystals to form in your joints. Fluids can help pass uric acid through your body, making them an effective way to reduce the chance of gout attacks. Water is the most effective fluid for this purpose, but you may use 100% fruit juice for part of your daily quota.
   • Sweetened drinks, such as soda or sweetened fruit juice, can make your gout worse.
   • The eight cup minimum recommendation refers to U.S. measuring cups. Eight cups is equal to 64 fluid ounces, two quarts, or {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}.
2. Eat potassium rich foods. Potassium may help uric acid, the cause of gout attacks, pass through your system. Many foods contain high levels of potassium, including lima beans, dried peaches, cantaloupe, cooked spinach, or baked potatoes with skin.
   • If you are not willing to eat at least two servings of these foods each day (or as many as seven for severe gout), try taking potassium supplements instead, or consult a nutritionist or doctor.
3. Eat complex carbohydrates. Whole grain pasta, brown bread, vegetables, and fruit are recommended for people at risk of gout. Eat these instead of refined white bread, cakes, and candy, at least in your daily diet.
4. Take vitamin C supplements or eat foods high in vitamin C. At least one study suggests that taking plenty of vitamin C each day, especially between 1,500 and 2,000mg a day, significantly reduces your risk of gout. Many people suffering from gout add lemon juice to their water to help with this, although it is difficult to reach these high levels of vitamin C intake without taking supplements.
5. Eat cherries. Long a folk remedy for treating gout, cherries may actually reduce your risk of gout. Preliminary studies show that cherries appear to reduce the levels of uric acid in your blood, the immediate cause of gout.
6. Consider drinking decaffeinated coffee. One study shows that coffee may help reduce uric acid, and therefore reduce the risk of gout attacks. The reason for this is unknown, but caffeine does not appear to be the cause, and may in fact make gout worse, suggesting that decaffeinated coffee may be a better option.

Avoiding Harmful Foods

1. Avoid sugary foods and "junk food". Fructose, which can be found in corn syrup and other sweeteners, raises uric acid levels significantly. When uric acid builds up, it forms needle-like crystals (monosodium urate), which cause the joint pain and inflammation known as gout. Diets high in sugar, sweeteners, and processed food are currently a major cause of gout.
   • Try replacing soda and sweetened fruit juice with water and/or juices labeled "100% fruit juice".
   • Look at the ingredients of grocery items you purchase. Avoid foods containing high fructose corn syrup, and keep foods that list sugar or other types of corn syrup to a minimum.
2. Reduce the amount of meat and fish you eat. Meat of all kinds contain purine, which breaks down into the uric acid that causes gout. You do not have to eliminate meat entirely, but eating no more than 4-6 oz (113-170g) daily is recommended.
   • An amount of meat that could sit flat on your palm is roughly 3 ounces, or one serving. Eating two of these servings each day is recommended.
   • Lean meat is safer than fatty meat.
3. Eliminate certain high-risk meats. Certain other foods contain high levels of purine, which can bring on a gout attack. Try to remove these from your diet, or eat them only occasionally and in small amounts:
   • Kidneys, liver, brains, and other organ meat
   • Anchovies, sardines, and mackerel
   • Gravy formed from meat
4. Reduce the amount of fat in your diet. Fats in your diet, especially saturated fat, can slow your body's processing of uric acid, and bring on more severe gout pain. Fortunately, many of the changes above also happen to reduce the amount of fat in your diet, but look for other ways to reduce your fat intake to healthy levels if necessary. If you normally drink whole-fat milk, try switching to 1% fat or skim milk instead. If you are used to eating fried food, instead try Roast-Vegetables or Bake-Chicken.
5. Switch from beer to wine. Alcohol is linked to gout, but can be drunk in moderation with low chance of negative effects. However, beer contains yeast that is high in purine, making it especially likely to worsen your gout. One or two 5-oz. (150 mL) servings of wine each day is a safer way to consume alcohol.
   • Adding wine to your diet does not make gout less likely. It is only recommended as a safer substitute for beer.

Reaching a Healthy Weight Safely

1. Follow this method if you are overweight. If you are overweight or obese, this is very likely making your gout worse. However, if you are maintaining a healthy weight according to your doctor, do not try to reduce your weight, and read the instructions below before you consider any diet.
2. Do not go on an extreme diet. The diet changes recommended in the other sections of this article are often enough to lower your weight slowly but steadily. If you are at risk of gout, reducing your weight too quickly can actually trigger a gout attack, as the stress on your body can overload your kidney's ability to process harmful substances.
   • High-protein diets, starvation diets, and diets that include diuretic supplements are especially harmful for people at risk of gout.
3. Exercise. Any physical activity can be helpful in reducing weight and the associated risk of gout, including walking a dog or gardening. However, moderate activity such as cycling, brisk walking, tennis, or swimming for at least 2.5 hours each week is recommended for adults.
4. Ask a doctor or dietitian for advice if you are having trouble reaching a healthy weight. If you are following at least some of the diet changes describe in other sections, and have not noticed any progress toward a healthier weight, consult a medically trained expert for advice. Because gout is affected by so many different substances, dietary advice from other sources is not recommended.

Miscellaneous Causes and Treatments

1. Ask your doctor to prescribe medication. If lifestyle changes are not enough to prevent your gout, a doctor may prescribe allopurinol or another medication. Always follow the instructions carefully, as taking too much medication or medication at the wrong time can have the opposite effect, making a gout episode worse.
2. Ask your doctor about lead poisoning. Recent evidence suggests that lead poisoning, even in levels too low to cause other problems, may cause or worsen gout. Although more studies are needed to confirm this, it may be a good idea to ask a doctor to test your hair or blood for toxins. This is especially true if you have lived or worked in an old building, use lead-based paint regularly, or work in an industrial setting where lead is used.
3. Avoid diuretic medications if possible. These medications are sometimes used to treat other health issues, or as a dieting supplement. While their effect on gout is controversial, it is possible they worsen the condition. Ask your doctor if any other medications you take are diuretics, and if so, whether a potassium supplement is recommended to counteract this.

Tips

• Gout is a type of arthritis, or inflammation of the joints. It is sometimes referred to as gouty arthritis, or podagra if it causes inflammation in the big toe.
• Try to keep track of what you eat and drink, and see whether any particular foods are related to your gout attacks. Everyone's body is different, so some foods may have more noticeable affect on you than others.

Warnings

• If gout causes your joints develop hard, painless lumps, these may result in chronic arthritis and constant or frequent pain.

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