What fires up gout?
Factors that increase the uric acid level in your body include: Diet. Eating a diet rich in red meat and shellfish and drinking beverages sweetened with fruit sugar (fructose) increase levels of uric acid, which increase your risk of gout. Alcohol consumption, especially of beer, also increases the risk of gout.
Can extreme heat cause gout?
Our results demonstrate that high temperature and high humidity are both associated with an increased risk of recurrent gout attacks. Under such weather conditions, subjects with gout may need to increase fluid intake to replace volume depletion.
What causes gout to flame up?
This condition is triggered by high levels of uric acid in your blood. Uric acid is a natural compound in your body. However, if you have too much of it, sharp crystals of uric acid can collect in your joints. This causes a gout flare-up.
Does cold weather affect gout?
Hot weather can definitely be a gout risk factor as sweating can cause extra fluid loss from the body, which may result in dehydration. It’s less clear if cold weather contributes to gout. “In theory, uric acid is less soluble and therefore more likely to precipitate out in colder temperatures,” says Fields.
What are some of the triggers for gout?
According to many studies, that obesity is also a major trigger for gout-related diseases. When you are obese, the fatty tissues inside the body helps in stimulating the increased production of uric acid in your body. This increased levels of uric acid makes the kidney difficult to release all those uric acid.
How are purines and uric acid related to gout?
Purines are natural chemical components of DNA and RNA. When your body breaks them down, they turn into uric acid. Some purines are found naturally in the body. However, a diet high in purines can lead to gout. Some foods are especially high in purines and can raise uric acid levels in the blood. These high-purine foods include:
Why is it bad to have gout in your feet?
Uric acid dilutes poorly in low-temperature levels making it easy to reproduce and create new crystals that build up. Second, the feet are also an easy target for physical trauma. Your feet are the most used part of the body and therefore are at more risk of injury. A gout flare in the foot can be sudden and extremely painful.
Why are men more at risk for gout?
Men are more susceptible to gout attacks than women as men are generally found to have more uric acid levels in the blood than women. Hence, men are more at risk of getting affected by gout. Men who have just reached their puberty also are at higher risk as the uric acid level production is very high during that time.
