Gout is 'eating' out? 5 kinds of 'big purines' may increase uric acid, don't be too greedy

Uncle Wang is an old Guang, and he cooks a pot of old fire soup every day, saying it is for nourishing his health and appetizing. But in the past two weeks, Uncle Wang's toes and big toe joints have been repeatedly red, swollen and hot, and he woke up several times in the middle of the night.

The family members suspected gout, so they sent Uncle Wang to the hospital for an examination. It was found that Uncle Wang’s blood uric acid level was several times higher than the normal value . X-rays showed asymmetric swelling of the first metatarsophalangeal joint. The doctor diagnosed it as gout.

Uncle Wang felt depressed: I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, and I don't like seafood very much, so why did I get this disease?

During the careful questioning of him by the doctor, he learned that Uncle Wang likes to drink thick and delicious broth on weekdays . This hobby is most likely one of the important reasons for Uncle Wang's gout.

In fact, in daily life, many delicacies that people love to eat are actually "big purine households" that can cause uric acid to rise.

1. Why does gout "prefer" men?

According to the "White Paper on Hyperuricemia and Gout Trends in China" in 2021, the number of patients with hyperuricemia in China has reached 177 million , and the number of gout patients has exceeded 14,660, with the majority of male patients.

Gout is a crystal-associated arthropathy caused by the deposition of monosodium urate, which is directly related to hyperuricemia and belongs to the category of metabolic diseases.

Gout can be divided into acute arthritis phase and chronic arthritis phase. Under the incentives of drinking, fatigue, stress, high protein, high purine diet , etc., it can lead to acute attack of gout, and patients will feel severe pain in the joints where uric acid is deposited.

Acute gout generally has a self-limiting period and can be relieved within 2 weeks, but this does not mean that patients can not treat or intervene.

If it is not controlled in time, patients may face two consequences:

One is the acute attack stage , the pain is unbearable and often affects daily activities or sleep at night;

The second is that the treatment is not timely . With the progress of gout, a large number of tophi are deposited in the joints, which can cause joint damage.

Why is gout especially prevalent in men?

Our body undergoes metabolism every day, and the "garbage" in metabolism includes uric acid, which needs to be transported out of the body regularly by the kidneys and intestines.

And when it comes to removing garbage, androgen is a "two hundred and five", often intercepted for no reason, preventing the transportation process of the intestines and kidneys. Androgen occupies a dominant position in men, which leads to a great reduction in the transportation efficiency of uric acid waste , making the incidence rate of men higher than that of women.

2. Elevated uric acid, the body often has these abnormalities

High uric acid is a precursor to gout. Generally speaking, if the blood uric acid level is checked, it can be diagnosed as high uric acid if it exceeds 420 micromol/L for men and 360 micromol/L for women.

According to statistics, there are about 200 million people with hyperuricemia in China, and about 12% of them can develop gout . However, when uric acid rises, the body will send out warning signals:

1. Joint pain

The uric acid content is too high, and the urate crystals are deposited in the form of urate stones, which compress the joints and bring pain and swelling to the joints.

2. Edema appears

Excessive uric acid puts a load on the work of the kidneys, and the water in the kidneys is difficult to excrete, and it will accumulate in the body, causing edema.

3. Abnormal urination

Healthy urine is light yellow, and the urination process is smooth and painless. If the level of uric acid is high, the urine will become dark and cloudy, which is one of the manifestations of metabolic problems caused by high uric acid.

But in fact, most people have asymptomatic hyperuricemia, and patients with elevated uric acid do not know it, resulting in no timely intervention in diet and life.

Therefore, it is recommended that people over the age of 60, obese men, postmenopausal women, patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, patients with diabetes, patients with kidney stones, people with a family history of gout, and people who like to drink alcohol and eat meat should regularly check blood uric acid levels.

3. Is gout caused by "eating"? 5 kinds of food may raise uric acid

It seems that in the eyes of most people, gout is caused by "eating", such as various beers, seafood, Laohuo soup, soy products, etc... In fact, the increase in uric acid is the result of multiple factors.

Affecting uric acid excretion is often related to these three factors: disease, drugs, and personal constitution .

Many people think that uric acid is produced by "eating", but about 20% of uric acid in human blood comes from food, and the remaining nearly 80% is produced by the body's own metabolism.

Most of the exogenous purines in food will be converted and decomposed into uric acid, which can indeed increase blood uric acid levels, but this is not the main cause of gout. Even strictly controlling the intake of high-purine foods can only reduce the uric acid value by about 60-120 μmol/L .

However, some foods that people often eat in daily life are actually "big purine households", which will accelerate the increase of uric acid and induce gout:

1. Laohuo soup

Laohuo soup pays attention to time, the longer the time, the better the tonic effect. But in fact, the meat in the soup will release purine substances after being boiled. The longer the cooking time, the higher the purine content.

2. Alcohol

Alcohol consumption is a more important risk factor than diet. During the decomposition process, ethanol can lead to an increase in adenosine, the precursor of uric acid. Secondly, it can also increase blood lactic acid levels and inhibit the excretion of uric acid. According to the National Rheumatology Statistics, alcohol consumption is the main cause of gout in men, up to 25.5%.

3. Seasoning

Oyster sauce, abalone sauce, hoisin sauce, mushroom sauce and other food seasonings also contain high purine content. They are seasonings that are extracted and concentrated from animals and seafood as raw materials, and will also affect the level of uric acid.

4. High-fructose foods

Fructose is a kind of simple sugar, which can inhibit the excretion of uric acid by the kidneys. Whether a large amount of fructose is consumed at one time or a large amount of fructose is consumed for a long time, it can cause blood uric acid to rise.

5. Seafood and offal

Seafood and animal offal are high-level foods in the high-purine food list. The purine content is generally higher than 150mg/100g, especially processed broth, canned food, barbecued food, etc., should reduce intake.

To prevent and control gout, in addition to taboos, it is more important to adhere to treatment. The purpose of treatment is to control uric acid at a reasonable level and help the body metabolize "garbage" as soon as possible. Food is only an aid, and drug control can help better control .

It is actually not difficult to control the uric acid level within a reasonable range. In life, establish a reasonable diet, exercise more, control weight, and use scientific medication. As long as you persist, don't worry about the day when gout comes.

References:

[1] "There is a kind of pain that makes people say goodbye to beer and seafood. Its name is gout". Nutshell. 2021-09-01

[2] "Asymptomatic high uric acid is more "dangerous"! Don’t Let Your Kidney Suffer Silently Anymore.” Life Times. 2021-06-03

[3] "Rely on this "food purine table" to fix the daily diet of gout patients! ". Endocrinology Channel in the Medical World. 2020-06-03

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