Seeing summer approaching, experienced rheumatologists and immunologists all know that the number of gout patients in outpatient clinics will increase significantly.
Because summer is a good time to drink beer, eat seafood and barbecue. I invited three to five friends to sit on the street late at night. My mouth was carefree, but my feet suffered the next day…
In order to make gout friends comfortable in summer and reduce gout attacks, we must pay attention to the following nine points.
STEP 1 Scientific Drinking
Everyone knows that gout patients cannot drink beer, so what about white wine and red wine?
Studies have shown that liquor and other spirits have the risk of increasing blood uric acid and causing gout attacks, but drinking a small amount of red wine (118 ml per day) has little to do with the risk of gout attacks.
It is suggested that gout patients should not drink beer or white wine. Red wine is not recommended. If you are really greedy, drink less and ensure that it is less than 118 ml per day. (Editor’s Note: Some studies believe that red wine is also unfavorable to gout)
2. Avoid seafood and barbecue
Some seafood and viscera belong to high purine foods and should be avoided as much as possible in both acute and remission phases.
Most of the meat in the barbecue belongs to foods with medium purine content. Excessive intake will lead to increased uric acid and gout attacks. Therefore, barbecue is definitely not allowed to eat during the acute attack of gout, and it can be eaten less during the remission period.
3. The air conditioner blows leisurely.
Uric acid salt is more likely to precipitate into crystals in low temperature environment and deposit around joints, causing arthritis attacks. This is also one of the reasons why gout is easy to attack at night.
Therefore, gout patients should blow air conditioning as little as possible in summer, especially at night. At the same time, pay attention to avoid blowing directly at the cold wind of the air conditioner.
Step 4 Be Careful with Coffee
Studies have shown that drinking more than 4 cups of coffee a day can reduce blood uric acid and the risk of gout attacks, but because coffee is an independent risk factor for chronic kidney disease, it is also associated with an increased risk of fracture in women.
Therefore, it is not recommended to drink a lot of coffee in order to reduce gout attacks.
5. Milk and yogurt can be drunk more.
Regular drinking of skim milk and low-fat yogurt can help reduce blood uric acid and gout attacks.
Whey acid in dairy products can promote uric acid excretion through kidney, casein and lactoalbumin also have the effect of promoting uric acid excretion, while glycomacropeptide and G600 milk fat extract have anti-inflammatory effect and can reduce inflammatory reaction during gout attack.
6. Eat more fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C in an appropriate amount.
Research on vitamin C and gout continues. Some studies say it is beneficial to gout and has the effect of promoting uric acid excretion. Some studies say it has little effect. No matter what the final conclusion is, eating fruits and vegetables in an appropriate amount will not do any harm, and it may also reduce gout attacks.
However, some fruits are rich in fructose, and eating too much fructose at one time will increase blood uric acid and even induce gout. It is recommended that gout patients eat 200 ~ 400 g of fruits every day. Common fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C include broccoli, chili, papaya, etc.
Step 7 Drink plenty of water
Hot summer weather and increased sweating will cause blood concentration and relative increase of uric acid.
Therefore, attention should be paid to supplementing more water, reaching about 2000 ml per day. Plain boiled water, light tea, etc. are all good choices.
8. Exercise is indispensable
In summer, gout patients can still do aerobic exercise for more than 30 minutes every day as usual, and they must remember to drink more water during the exercise.
9. Insist on taking medicine to reduce uric acid
Taking medicine is the most reluctant thing for everyone, but insisting on reducing uric acid and keeping uric acid at a low level is the most critical thing to reduce gout attacks.
The results showed that the lower the serum uric acid was, the lower the recurrence rate of gout was. When the serum uric acid was < 300 mol/L, the recurrence rate of gout was less than 10%, while when the serum uric acid was > 540 mol/L, the recurrence rate of gout was 80%, which was 8 times higher than that of patients < 300 mol/L.
Therefore, in addition to improving the lifestyle, we must cooperate with doctors to take medicine, so as to better avoid gout attacks.