Gout is a disease caused by persistent elevation of uric acid in the blood due to impaired purine metabolism in the body and precipitation of uric acid crystals in the joint cavities or other tissues of the body, manifesting as recurrent gouty acute arthritis, gouty stone deposits, gouty chronic arthritis and joint deformities. Gout often involves the kidneys and causes chronic interstitial nephritis and uric acid kidney stones.
With the improvement of living standard, the incidence of gout disease is increasing year by year.
At present, there are about 15 million gout patients in China, and more than 2 million of them have been misdiagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, traumatic arthritis, chronic pyelonephritis and other diseases. Gout is usually intermittent, with the onset of redness and swelling in the bunion, ankle and finger joints, accompanied by pins and needles and knife-like pain, and most patients also have high fever. Gout stones can cause serious deformation of the joints, making it impossible for the patient to walk normally or even hold pens, books, chopsticks and other daily objects. Some patients also suffer from coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and other diseases due to gout. Especially in patients with gouty nephropathy with a disease duration of more than 10 years, if the disease is not controlled, it will easily lead to renal colic, hematuria and renal failure and uremia, and eventually, some patients have to rely on dialysis or kidney replacement to maintain their lives.
85% of acute attacks have the following triggers present.
(1) Heavy alcohol consumption or consumption of purine-rich foods.
(2) Overexertion or joint strain.
(3) emotional hormones or mental stimulation.
(4) exposure to cold and moisture.
(5) Surgery or trauma.
(6) Drug induced such as the application of diuretics; (7) Cancer chemotherapy or radiation therapy, etc.
In addition to colchicine, hormones and non-hormonal anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs under the guidance of a doctor, dietary treatment is also very important in the treatment of gout.
Gout dietary treatment principles
I. Maintain ideal body weight serum uric acid level is positively correlated with the degree of obesity, body surface area and body mass index.
When the weight of obese patients is reduced, the serum uric acid level is lowered, urine excretion is reduced, and gout attacks are reduced.
Second, limit food purine intake as little as possible to eat animal offal (such as heart, liver, kidney) and shrimp, squid and other seafood food.
Excessive intake of protein can also increase endogenous uric acid, so it should also be appropriately restricted.
3. Encourage alkaline food alkaline food (vegetables, milk, fruits, etc.) can reduce the acidity of serum and uric acid.
This will increase the solubility of uric acid in the urine, speed up the discharge of uric acid, reduce the concentration of uric acid in the blood and decrease the precipitation of uric acid crystals.
Fourth, to ensure adequate urine volume if the patient has normal cardiopulmonary function, the urine volume should be maintained at about 2000ml per day to promote uric acid excretion.
Therefore, the patient’s total daily fluid intake should reach 2500 – 3000ml. beverages such as ordinary boiled water, tea, mineral water, soft drinks and fruit juices are appropriate. And strong tea, coffee, cocoa and other beverages, has a stimulating effect on the plant nervous system, may cause gout attacks, so should be avoided, in order to prevent the night urine concentration, should be appropriate before bedtime or midnight drinking water.
Fifth, as little as possible to drink alcohol, efforts to stop drinking the human body in order to break down the large amount of ethanol entering the body, must consume energy, resulting in a large amount of uric acid.
In addition, the metabolism of ethanol in alcohol increases the level of lactic acid in the blood, which hinders the excretion of uric acid by the kidneys and raises blood uric acid, causing acute attacks of arthritis. It is generally believed that beer is low in degree and safe to drink, but it is not known that beer contains a lot of purines and is high in calories, which can easily induce gout. Therefore, the acute phase of gout should be prohibited, the chronic phase, intermittent period to try to quit drinking, if you have to drink, should control the amount of alcohol, drink slowly, not to drink all at once.
Six, reasonable cooking reasonable cooking skills can remove or reduce the purine content of food, so that the variety of food eaten by gout patients.
1. Fish and meat.
Purines are water-soluble substances and are more easily soluble in water at high temperatures. Therefore, gout patients can eat fish and meat food can be blanched with boiling water before cooking, so as to reduce the purine content of such food, but also to reduce the heat.
2. Vegetables.
When gout patients eat meat, they often need to discard the soup and then eat it, but chicken soup or bone broth dissolves the purines while also dissolving the essence of the meat. Add vegetables to the soup stew, can absorb the essence of the soup, so that the vegetables taste sweet and delicious.
3. Microwave oven or non-stick pan.
Gout patients in the diet must control the daily calorie requirements, balanced intake of various nutrients. The use of microwave ovens or non-stick pans can avoid excessive heat caused by the use of oil, while also reducing the loss of vitamins. Therefore, for gout patients, microwave oven or non-stick cookware is indispensable for reasonable cooking.
4. Oven.
The oven can remove excess oil to reduce heat, but also to bake aromatic food. In addition, baking fish or meat with aluminum foil on the bottom of the pan can absorb the dissolved purines and oil, thus reducing the purine content and heat in the food.