Gout Treatment Diet

Gradual changes to food intake and exercise are better than sudden changes. Sudden lifestyle changes can trigger gout attacks. Also, this is all about changing habits for life, and these changes have more chance of sticking if you introduce them gradually.

Gout Treatment Diet Principles

The principles of treating gout by diet are no different from any other gout treatment plan. You must consider an early phase of significant uric acid reduction, followed by a maintenance phase of eating and exercising to keep uric acid at or below 6mg/dL (0.35mmol/L) for the rest of your life. Uric acid testing at least every every 6 months is a vital part of this – best by your doctor, but with a home uric acid test if necessary.

You must also begin by assessing your current diet and lifestyle to judge what changes you can reasonably expect to make. Remember, that though some gout sufferers are victims of their own lifestyle choices, many others are victims of inherited uric acid imbalance. If you are already at optimum weight, and you eat a healthy varied diet, and you take regular exercise, you can only expect 1 to 2 mg/dL uric acid through lifestyle changes alone.

That is not to say that diet is not important even if your gout is hereditary. A good gout diet can often mean a lower dose of urate lowering medication.

Gout Diet Treatment Overview

I will cover step by step details for assessing, monitoring and improving your lifestyle to develop your own personal gout treatment diet plan.

Before we get to that, it helps to understand why I take the approach that I do. Remember, we are all different, so what works for myself and many others may not suit you. Therefore it is vital to take an analytical approach, and be prepared to change things (gradually of course), but at the same time monitor your uric acid level so that you know if those changes are effective.

You should never adjust your diet based on gout pain. Acute gout attacks often occur when uric acid is decreasing, as dissolving uric acid crystals become exposed to the immune system. Always rely of uric acid test results when making lifestyle changes, and accept that you may need pain relief for a few months.

Much of my dietary advice is based on scientific studies that have shown real changes in uric acid. I occasionally rely on statistical studies about gout incidence to suggest lifestyle improvements, but these should be tested in the real world.

One particularly significant study[1] strongly suggests that weight loss and uric acid reduction are very effective with a 40:30:30 carbohydrate:protein:fats ratio. This is the basis of the popular Zone diet, which I used successfully myself for a time. However, there is some debate as to the best nutritional ratio. Some nutritionists argue that the ratio varies from person to person. My advice is to develop your own plan, monitoring your uric acid level and nutrition ratio to test what works best for you. note that this can take several months to perfect. It is vital that you discuss your plans with your doctor. Depending on the state of your health, it might be wise to lower uric levels immediately with appropriate medication. You could still make dietary improvements to reduce weight, and reduce iron intake, but the medication would prevent any analysis of uric acid lowering affects of your diet changes.

Gout Diet Treatment: Next Steps

Read the rest of the Gout Diet Section to familiarize yourself with the concepts of a good gout diet, and gain practical tips for planning your own lifestyle changes. Discuss those plans with your doctor, then if you still need help, discuss any issues you have in our gout forums.

Gout Diet Treatment References

1. Dessein PH, Shipton EA, Stanwix AE, Joffe BI, Ramokgadi J. Beneficial effects of weight loss associated with moderate calorie/carbohydrate restriction, and increased proportional intake of protein and unsaturated fat on serum urate and lipoprotein levels in gout: a pilot study. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 2000;59(7):539-543. 40 30 30 Gout Diet