How Can People with Gout Eat to Lower Uric Acid in Summer?

An analysis conducted by the Chinese medical authority in 2017 noted that roughly 170 million people saw the happenings of hyperuricemia, of which more than 80 million are gout patients. In addition, the disease is increasing rapidly at an annual growth rate of 9.7%. Nowadays, gout has become the second-largest metabolic disease following diabetes, which has not gained attention yet.

People with gout feel anxious about how to eat in a healthy manner. They have to bear in mind that eating too much high-purine food will lead to a surge in uric acid when having a banquet for a gathering of family and friends or a daily meal.

Due to the lack of systematic guidelines in diet, people are easily caught in the troubles, increasing the potential of the risks.

With the temperature rising, most people are prone to lose their appetite. How should people with gout choose food to ensure that they are delicious as well as healthy? Against this backdrop, a comprehensive dietary recommendation is listed as followed:

1. Vegetables
People with gout may reckon they should limit the intake of high-purine foods, including vegetables. However, there is no correlation between purine-rich vegetables and the incidence of gout, a new research has shown. As such, gout patients can rest assured to eat vegetables without worries.

2. Meat
People should foster a sound habit and eat moderate amounts of meat, such as chicken, duck and geese.while people should stay away from red meat, covering lamb, and pork.

3. Organ meats and seafood
Many people hold that although meat cannot be eaten, it’s fine to eat some organ meats. It should be mentioned that it is a wrong idea because animal viscera is rich in purines. Also, people should not eat seafood, including kelp.

4. Eggs, fish
Patients with gout do not need to be vegetarian every day. They can feel free to eat eggs and fish. However, they can only eat a small amount of freshwater fish, not sea fish.

5. Alcoholic beverages
People are allowed to maintain a daily intake of 1.5 to 2 liters of fluids to increase uric acid excretion. Boiled water is the first choice for them. People should not drink alcohol, particularly beer. In addition, eating vegetable soup is prohibited.

6. Fruits
Fruits rich in fructose are positively correlated with a growth in the incidence of gout. People with gout should not eat fruits with high sugar content.

The measures of high-sugar and low-sugar do not completely depend on the taste. For example, watermelon is a low-sugar fruit, while apple belongs to the type of fruit full of high sugar.

7. Legumes
The purine content of soy food is less than that of beans in that purines will penetrate into the water and be dumped during the processing. As such, tofu, bean curd, etc. can be eaten less than normal, and people are advised to avoid directly eating soybeans.

8. Regular test for uric acid
Hyperuricemia is defined by the fact that the blood uric acid value of men and post-menopausal women exceeds 420uml/L, and the premenopausal women exceed 357umol/L. It should be noted that this symptom is just a sign of gout, but high uric acid does not lead to gout naturally.

However, the higher the blood uric acid level, the greater the possibility of gout in the following 5 years, According to medical surveys, the incidence of gout is 30.5% when blood uric acid>600 uml/L, so testing uric acid is an important method to prevent gout.

Most people seldom know their uric acid level. They wait until the gout is unbearable before going to the hospital. In the hospital, they have to queue up for registration, see a doctor, and line up for blood draws, and wait an hour or two for the results to come out.

The crucial way to prevent gout, therefore, is to control uric acid. If people want to know their uric acid level, it's essential to boast a portable uric acid meter.