The Gout-Vitamin C Connection 03/16/09

Gout is a very painful arthritic condition that occurs when too much uric acid builds up in the bloodstream and gets deposited into joints. (big toe, knee, elbow, ankle, hip, instep, wrist fingers, spine)

Gout is the most common type of inflammatory arthritis in men, but also affects women after menopause.

What Happens:

In some cases the body produce excess uric acid, but in most cases the body can’t excrete uric acid efficiently in the kidney, thus not enough is excreted in the urine.

Dietary Management

Low Purine Diet Restricts

• Meat
• Seafood
• Alcohol
• Liver
• Kidney
• Sweetbreads
• Dried Beans and Peas
• Mushrooms
• Lentils
• Spinach
• Anchovies
• Sardines
• Whole grain bread
• Bran breads and cereals

Rapid Weight Loss can also trigger gout.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is also associated with gout.

No one can avoid all these foods; it’s not practical – but you should be careful with the preceding foods as much as possible.

Drug Management – some drugs increase the excretion of uric acid. (e.g. Losartin)

Overall gout is difficult to manage in people who are genetically vulnerable.

Here’s What’s New And Encouraging – Vitamin C supplementation between 1000-2000 mg per day reduces risk of gout by 45%.

Research has shown that Vitamin C supplementation increases excretion of uric acid in the urine and lowers blood levels.

Study by Choi et al (Archives of Internal Medicine, 2009) followed almost 47,000 men for 20 years.

Findings

Compared to men consuming less than 250 mg per day of vitamin C:

1. Those who ingested 1500 mg vitamin C per day showed a 45% reduced risk of gout
2. Those who ingested 1000-1500 mg (1499 mg) showed a 34% reduced risk of gout
3. Those who ingested 500-1,000 mg (999 mg) showed a 17% reduced risk of gout

What Should You Do

If you are prone to gout you should take a high potency multiple vitamin each day that contains 1000 mg per day (add another 500-1000 mg if you like).

Regardless of your eating habits it will probably reduce the frequency of gout episodes.

Finally, if you know anyone who is prone to gout, you may want to forward this video newsletter to them so they can discover the importance of Vitamin C in helping to better manage their condition.

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