6 Drinks That Can Increase Your Gout Risk

During gout, uric acid crystals develop inside joints and cause discomfort. Gout is a type of arthritis that is very painful, as anyone who has ever had it can tell you.

Know that eating a lot of purines can make you more likely to get gout. Purines are found in drinks and foods that are high in protein.

Uric acid is made when the body breaks down purine into its parts. Your body makes purine, and some foods also have it. Uric acid is mostly flushed out of the body through the urine.

If you follow a gout diet, uric acid in your blood might go down.

Avoiding foods high in purines can help, but it is not a substitute for medical care. But it may make future gout attacks less likely and slow the rate at which joint damage worsens.

Even if they follow a gout diet, most people with gout will still need painkillers and uric acid-lowering drugs.

What is Gout?

This condition is known as gout when uric acid crystals accumulate in joints like the toes, ankles, wrists, elbows, or fingers. The kidneys are responsible for neutralizing and flushing out uric acid.

However, uric acid can accumulate in the joints if the body creates too much or the kidneys cannot remove it. Moreover, males are more likely to have this condition than women because oestrogen facilitates the elimination of uric acid by the kidneys. The non-pharmacological therapy of gout focuses mostly on dietary and lifestyle changes.

An attack of gout, a painful illness, often begins within two to three hours and subsides within two weeks. Sudden, acute pain in any bone or red, hot, swelling skin above any joint are classic indications of gout.

The NHS recommends that anybody experiencing these symptoms seek medical attention immediately.

6 Drinks That Can Trigger Gout

If you are suffering from gout, you should avoid the following drinks −

Beer

Gout flares are very likely to happen when you eat many foods high in purines and drink a lot of beer. Researchers found that people who drank one 12-ounce beer per day were 1.5 times more likely to get gout than people who didn't drink alcohol. Beer is dangerous for people who get gout because it has a lot of alcohol and brewer's yeast.

Soft Drinks

Many studies have found a link between drinking sugary drinks and getting gout more often. This link is true for both men and women. One study found that the risk of gout in women who drank even one sugar-sweetened drink every day was double that of women who drank no more than one such drink per month.

Researchers have found that drinking fruit juices and other sugary drinks can make you more likely to get gout. In these trials, it was interesting that diet soda wasn't linked to a higher risk of gout attacks.

Orange Juice

In addition to sugary drinks, naturally sweetened juices like orange juice may make you more likely to get gout. Studies in the last ten years have shown that fruit juices with a lot of fructose can make you more likely to get gout.

Too much orange juice could be just as bad for you as sugary soda since both contain fructose, sugar added to soft drinks but is also naturally found in orange juice.

Caffeine

Research shows that caffeine may protect against gout because it has the same molecular structure as a major gout medicine. But some studies show that too much caffeine could worsen gout pain.

For example, one study found that getting twice as much caffeine in a short amount of time made it up to 80% more likely that you would have gout symptoms.

Caffeine may protect people who use it, so feel free to enjoy your morning cup of coffee, but remember that even small amounts of caffeine can cause gout attacks if taken too quickly.

Energy Drinks

Not just with coffee, but with everything you drink, be careful. Some energy drinks are like a caffeine binge in a bottle. Because these drinks have a lot of sugar, you might get gout if you drink them daily.

No one has looked into what effect energy drinks have on gout. But since most of these drinks are sweetened with fructose, it stands to reason that they could worsen gout attacks. Some people with high uric acid levels never get gout, but research shows that the amount of uric acid in food increases. To stay safe, you should watch what you eat and drink.

Alcohol

The use of beer and spirits with high alcohol content is linked to an increased risk of gout and recurrent episodes. Having wine with dinner doesn't seem to trigger more gout flare-ups than drinking less.

People prone to gout can get painful attacks from any alcoholic drink, including beer. When a person drinks, instead of getting rid of the uric acid, their kidneys get rid of the alcohol. If this happens, a gout attack could happen within a day or two because it raises the level of uric acid in the blood.

Do not drink alcohol during gout attacks; cut down significantly, especially on beer, between attacks.

Conclusion

Those suffering from gout may find relief by adhering to a diet designed to reduce uric acid production and boost excretion. You probably won't be able to treat your gout with a gout diet alone because of the high uric acid in your blood. However, this can potentially reduce both the frequency and impact of assaults.

As part of a gout diet, regular exercise and calorie restriction can help you reach and keep a healthy weight, improving your health in many ways.

Many dietary supplements are effective in reducing or eliminating gout symptoms. Take in lots of liquids, including milk, water, and tart cherry juice. Before making any major dietary adjustments, you should see your doctor. However, staying away from these beverages might help you significantly reduce gout.