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The Top Supplements for Gout

What is Gout?

A type of inflammatory arthritis, gout causes pain and swelling in the joints. It usually ebbs and wanes, with flareups lasting a week or two.

Generally, gout often begins in your big toe or a lower limb. It can then affect our joints, the areas in between bones and soft tissue, called bursae, areas surrounding tendons and kidneys.

As for the types of gout, gout often moves through stages:

• Hyperuricemia: when you have high uric levels in your blood and crystals start forming, but have no symptoms.
• Gout Flares: when you start to get pain and swelling in your joints.
• Interval or Intercritical Gout: the stage between gout attacks where you don’t have symptoms.
• Tophi: when gout crystals begin to build up in other areas of the body, like the skin. It’s at this late stage that it can permanently damage your joints and internal organs, so proper treatment is needed before you reach this.

If untreated, gout flares may last longer and occur more frequently.

Gout is more common in men than women and often begins in middle age. If prone, women will generally develop gout after menopause. This is because women are protected by oestrogen, which naturally flushes uric acid out in their urine, but oestrogen lessens after menopause. While rare, gout can affect younger people, usually with higher intensity.

What is the Main Cause of Gout?

Gout is caused by high uric acid levels, or serum urate, in your blood. Normally, urate passes out of the body in urine, but sometimes, too little is removed. Essentially, when our body has too much uric acid, sharp crystals form that settle in our joints, which causes swelling and pain, i.e., gout.

Not everyone with high levels will develop gout.

What Causes Gout to Flare Up?

Some foods that cause gout or make gout worse include sugary drinks and sweets, as fructose breaks down into uric acid, alcohol, high fructose corn syrup, organ meats, game meats, some seafoods, red meat, turkey, meat sauces like gravy and yeast.

Gout can even be triggered by certain medications, genetics, age, physical trauma or certain illnesses.

Some people find that consuming a low-purine diet helps their flare-ups as it reduces the amount of uric acid in the body, but this isn’t right for everyone.

Definition: Purines are natural chemicals in some foods and drinks that, when broken down, form uric acid.

Some people naturally have high uric levels in their blood, a condition called hyperuricemia, so consuming a low-purine diet may benefit these people and prevent gout from progressing and causing complications like kidney stones.

If aiming for an anti-gout diet, try incorporating foods like milk, cherries and more water into your diet. Try to vary your protein sources, eat fruits and vegetables, and eat grains, except for oats.

Common Symptoms of Gout

Joint pain in the area where the gout is located is the most common symptom of gout, which often happens first in one of the big toes. Gout flares often begin at night, with the pain sometimes so severe it wakes you, and you will notice the joint will be swollen, red, stiff and warm. It can affect other joints like knees, ankles, feet, hands and wrists, and elbows, too.

What causes gout in feet and why does it begin in the big toes? This is because uric acid is sensitive to temperature changes, and since the big toe is furthest from the heart, this means it’s the coolest part of the body and a target of gout.

Gout can result in people developing other conditions, such as hypertension, kidney disease, obesity, diabetes, kidney stones, heart attack and congestive heart attack.

How Do You Treat Gout?

Gout is actually one of the most controllable forms of arthritis and flares can be avoided or the severity lessened.

Does gout ever go away? Yes, you can even become gout-free with early diagnosis, treatment and lifestyle changes, such as avoiding alcohol, maintaining a healthy weight and taking certain medications.

In a study of 45,000 men, it was found that you had a 42 per cent higher chance of developing gout if you ate a typical American diet of red meat, fries, sweets and alcohol, compared to those eating a DASH diet.

For gout pain relief, medications like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like ibuprofen and naproxen, can reduce pain and swelling but do not affect the amount of uric acid in the body. Corticosteroids can reduce pain and swelling, as can colchicine.

As for gout prevention and uric acid reducer medication, colchicine may both relieve pain and prevent future attacks. Xanthine oxidase inhibitors, like allopurinol and febuxostat, can reduce the production of uric acid in the body, while uricosuric medicines, like probenecid, can reduce the amount of uric acid in your body by increasing the amount removed through your urine.

Make sure to talk with your doctor before taking any new medication, especially since these are medications that need to be taken every day to lower your uric acid.

Supplements That Can Prevent Gout

There are a range of supplements you can take for gout, as well as to reduce uric acid levels in your body. If you can reduce your uric acid levels, you can help prevent new crystals from forming, reducing gout attacks.

Dietary supplements with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties may reduce the risk of onset of gout and manage the symptoms.

Curcumin

Turmeric, for example, is rich in curcumin, with its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Studies have shown curcumin can suppress the protein that plays a major role in inflammatory conditions, including gout. Studies show that it can reduce uric acid levels in serum and improve symptoms, providing relief.

Try out Xandro Lab’s patented BCM-95® Turmeric Curcumin, a highly absorbable form of curcumin for enhanced relief.

Flavanones

Recent studies also show that flavanones and especially anthocyanins help reduce uric acid. Pomegranate and AMLA extracts in Xandro Lab’s POM-Q10 offer anthocyanins and flavanones, respectively, making it a great supplement for gout. A tablespoon of tart cherry extract twice a day for two months also saw a 50 per cent reduction in flares.

Quercetin

Quercetin is a flavonoid found in high levels in onions, tea and apples, that has been found to lower uric acid in our bodies. It’s also a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, making it a dietary supplement for preventing and managing hyperuricemia and gout. Quercetin also has a range of other benefits, especially for longevity.

Vitamin C

An antioxidant and anti-inflammatory that may prevent gout in those who don’t have it and reduce flare-ups in those who do. It has been shown to potentially reduce uric acid levels in people with gout.

Omega-3 and 6 Fatty Acids

These fatty acids, especially EPA and DHA, are known to regulate inflammation.

Taking a 3,000mg evening primrose supplement helps increase your gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) intake, which is your needed omega-6 fatty acids that can reduce inflammation.

Other Options to Help with Gout

• Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM): Helps reduce inflammation at a dosage of 3,000mg twice a day.
• Folic Acid: Breaks down high levels of homocysteine, also found in people with high uric acid levels.
• Bromelain Extract: An extract from the pineapple plant, often used to treat arthritis, sinusitis and other types oof inflammation.
• Coffee: May protect against gout as it seems to reduce uric acid levels.

Whether you have arthritis or gout, these supplements are natural options for treating or preventing the disease and relieving pain that prevents you from completing your day-to-day tasks.

As mentioned, always make sure to speak with your doctor before you begin to take any new medication to ensure there are no possible interactions with any medications you’re taking or that none of these will interfere with any conditions you have.

For many, the question of, ‘Is gout curable?’ is not possible because too many people let it run untreated or undertreated. As long as you continue to get treated, though, your gout flares should essentially disappear.

Check out Xandro Lab’s other dietary supplements to help improve your longevity and boost your fitness goals.

If you think you want to experience the benefits yourself, why not try Xandro Lab’s BCM 95® Turmeric Curcumin 400 mg via our 30-day refund guarantee?