Gout Cause - Do You Know It?

You are in the middle of your work when you noticed your big toe is swelling. Then here comes the attack: a very painful striking pain. In the middle of the pain you must be wondering; what are the gout causes?

Gout, in early times has known to be a rich man's disease; wines and salty meats that are usually a rich man's food commonly precipitates the attack. In the world of modern science, an abnormal high level of uric acid in the blood is the widely accepted cause of gout. When uric acid is elevated, crystals or stones develops in the joint spaces. Gout causes pain and swelling in the area, especially in the joints. High levels of uric acid can be caused by many precipitating factors including the following:

Diet

This has been a long battled controversy in the world of science but traditionally, those who eat foods high in purine later develop gout. Examples of foods high in purine are meats like beef, pork, lamb and seafood particularly crab and lobster. Organs like kidney and liver are also known to cause high uric acid. Habitual consumption of alcohols is also a contributing factor.

Lead Poisoning

This has been concluded after several studies have established a connection between gout and lead poisoning. Formerly, lead sugar was used as a sweetener in wines and this has caused gout in many people.

Metabolic Disorders

There are people born with inherited metabolic disorders which cause high uric acid levels. This is known as errors on purine-pyrimidine metabolism. These people don't have the ability to metabolize uric acid in order to excrete in the body causing it to lodge in the blood. This disorder can be detected early through the newborn screening test.

Complications

Gout can also develop secondary to other diseases such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and renal disorders. The gout causes at this point is due to the disturbance in circulating volume and absorption. In certain cases on solid organ transplants, gout is a common complication as a result of side effects of immunosuppressant.

Aside from the above mentioned gout causes, there are many other causes of gout that are not scientifically proven. But for those who are suffering from gout, the focus of care is on alleviating the gout causes in order to prevent the pain. Uric acid, the main cause of gout, concentrates in the blood causing it to be acidic. So the key in controlling it is to neutralize the acidity of the blood through eating the right diet and drinking alkaline water. Alkaline water has a pH of 7.5 which is beneficial in creating a balance in the acidity of the body's fluids. Since uric acid is a kind of acid, it raises the acidity of blood when in high levels. Alkaline water will help to neutralize the body's pH balance, thus it normalizes level of uric acid in the blood and prevents painful attacks of gout. Regular consumption of alkaline water along with a low purine diet will keep you from those agonizing attacks making gout attack just a drink of water away!