Gout self-management points You should visit the rheumatology department when the following symptoms occur: 1. Men over 45 years old (less often women) 2.Habit of drinking alcohol and eating meat and seafood. 3.The first pain site is mostly the first metatarsophalangeal joint, and the lower limb joints are more involved than the upper limb. 4. The pain is often sudden and severe at night. 5. The reoccurrences are mostly single joint or multi-joint alternating attacks. 6.The pain can be self-limiting. Even without treatment, the pain can be relieved by itself after about 1 week. However, recurrent attacks can occur, and intervals can be completely normalized. The danger of gout Epidemiological studies show that in the past 20 years, the incidence of hyperuricemia and gout has increased significantly due to changes in dietary habits and lifestyle, with the majority of male patients. Hyperuricemia can not only cause arthritis and urinary stones, but is also significantly associated with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure. It has been shown that gout can be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, leading to increased mortality in patients. Gout prevention and control 1, weight loss Studies have shown that an increased body mass index (BMI) is an independent risk factor for gout. With the increase of BMI, the prevalence of gout increases. When BMI is 21-23kg/m2, the relative risk of gout (RR) is 1.4; when BMI is 30-35kg/m2, RR rises to 3,26. Therefore, moderate weight loss can prevent gout. 2, advocate drinking low-fat milk. It is usually believed that meat and seafood can raise blood uric acid. So the previous dietary guidelines recommended a low purine, low protein diet and restricted alcohol consumption. However, recent studies have found that there is no significant correlation between gout and total protein intake, but is closely related to insulin resistance. Limiting carbohydrate intake and increasing protein and unsaturated fatty acid intake improves insulin sensitivity and facilitates blood uric acid excretion, resulting in a reduced risk of gout. Studies have also found that milk (especially low-fat milk) can reduce blood uric acid levels. This may be related to the fact that casein and whey protein in milk increase uric acid excretion. Therefore, some scholars believe that regular consumption of low-fat milk has a protective effect on gout patients. 3, limit alcohol consumption. The correlation between alcohol consumption and hyperuricemia and gout has always been recognized worldwide – the blood uric acid value is directly proportional to the total alcohol intake: a 10g increase in daily alcohol intake can increase the RR of gout by 1.17 times. Among the various alcoholic beverages, beer has the strongest RR with gout: drinking more than 2 glasses of beer per day results in an RR for gout of 2, 51. It has been analyzed that beer (even alcohol-free beer) is highly correlated with high uric acid, probably due to the fact that beer is made of malt and guanine nucleosides are more easily absorbed. However, studies have shown that wine is not significantly associated with high uric acid and does not increase the risk of gout. Daily wine consumption keeps uric acid levels low. It is speculated that this may be related to the antioxidants in wine or because wine drinkers are more conscious of a healthy diet, which reduces the toxicity of alcohol.