When patients with hyperuricemia develop deposits of urate crystals that lead to characteristic acute arthritis and gouty stone formation, it is called gout, and therefore, theHigh uric acid is the most significant culprit for gout attacks.

But high uric acid ≠ goutWe can prevent and reduce the occurrence of gout by lowering or even normalizing uric acid through proper diet and medication.

How to lower uric acid needs to be underlined hereIn terms of non-pharmacological treatment: ① Balanced diet, control the purine content in the diet. If you like to eat animal offal, seafood and meat and other high purine food patients need to avoid eating, encourage more fresh vegetables, moderate consumption of beans and soy products. ② Drink a lot of water, at least 2,000 ml of water per day, cola, orange juice, apple juice and other fructose-containing drinks or sugary soft drinks are not recommended. ③ Limit alcohol intake, especially beer and liquor. ④Control weight, obese hyperuricemia patients have a greater risk of gout, at this time weight loss is the first priority. ⑤ Quit smoking and avoid passive smoking. (6) Regular diet and work routine. Studies have shown that patients with irregular diet and rest have a 1.6 times higher risk of developing gout or hyperuricemia than patients with regular diet and rest, so it is important to eat regularly and sleep well. If uric acid levels remain high after non-pharmacologic interventions, a combination of medications is needed to control uric acid. Clinically used drugs to lower uric acid include inhibit uric acid synthesis (such as allopurinol, febuxostat) and promote uric acid excretion (such as benzbromarone) two categories, need to be in the doctor and pharmacist under the guidance of targeted selection, and pay attention to long-term, standardized use of medication, do not stop or adjust the dosage, to avoid fluctuations in the level of uric acid triggered gouty episodes.

Ouyang Xing, Lulu Li, Wuhan First Hospital (Wuhan Combined Hospital of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine)

Gout is a disease that has existed for a long time, and it was named because when gout attacks, the pain is as swift as the wind. Gout is also known as the "Emperor's Disease" and is most common among the rich who are well off and well fed. What are the causes of gout?

When the level of uric acid in a person's body increases dramatically beyond the level of uric acid solubility in our body's blood, and the blood can no longer dissolve more uric acid, the urates leach out. Most of the urate leakage is concentrated in the joints, kidneys and subcutaneous areas of a person's body, and in most cases the resulting condition is acute gouty arthritis. This is why gout and uric acid are closely related.

Does that mean that having high uric acid in your body means that you already have gout? This is not the case. With the continuous improvement of the quality of life, our intake of high-purine food increased, increased uric acid in the contemporary people has been a common phenomenon. Most patients with hyperuricemia will not develop gout in their lifetime, and only ten percent of patients with hyperuricemia will eventually develop uric acid in the clinic, but the higher the level of uric acid in the body, the probability of developing gout will also increase.

What kind of people are prone to hyperuricemia? First, people who will often consume some high-purine foods, high-purine foods include animal offal, seafood, meat and nuts and so on. Second, people who often drink alcohol or eat fructose drinks. Thirdly, people who do strenuous exercise from time to time. Fourth, obese patients suffering from high blood pressure, high blood fat and some patients with radiotherapy tumors. Although most of the hyperuricemia will not develop into gout, but we can not take it lightly. This is also a warning sign to us that we should improve our living habits.

Instructor: Xu Weidong, Deputy Chief Physician, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

She specializes in the treatment of rheumatology and immunology diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid, gouty arthritis, osteoarthritis, and unexplained joint swelling and pain by combined Chinese and Western medicine methods.

If you find this article useful, please feel free to like or recommend it to your friends and follow [Medlink Media].

Gout refers to acute and chronic inflammation and tissue damage caused by urate deposition in the bones and joints, kidneys and subcutaneous parts of the body, and is directly related to purine metabolism disorders and/or hyperuricemia caused by reduced uric acid excretion. Clinical diagnosis is made through the measurement of blood uric acid, and attention should be drawn to the condition if it exceeds 416 μmol/L in adult males and 358 μmol/L in adult females.

However, it is important to note that hyperuricemia is not the same as gout. Hyperuricemia refers to diseases caused by impaired purine metabolism, but uric acid must be elevated in gout patients. What is purine? It is the product of further decomposition and metabolism of DNA and RNA in nucleic acids, and uric acid is the metabolic product of purine, because purine comes from nucleic acids in the cell, so, uric acid can also be called the end product of cellular catabolism. In addition to milk and eggs, almost all foods produce uric acid, but about 80% of uric acid comes from the body's endogenous breakdown of nucleic acid proteins, and only 20% of uric acid comes from foods rich in nucleic acid proteins, and uric acid excretory channels are mainly for the kidneys and intestines. Therefore, an increase in metabolites and a decrease in excretion can raise blood uric acid in the body.

Gout is also divided into primary gout (with a certain family susceptibility, mostly seen in men over 40 years of age or menopausal women, often accompanied by obesity, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus and so on) and secondary gout (secondary to myeloproliferative diseases and radiotherapy resulting in an increase in uric acid production). The clinical picture of gout generally goes through four phases: asymptomatic hyperuricemia, acute gouty arthritis, intermittent phase, gouty stone and chronic gouty arthritis. Patients usually get up early in the morning with swelling and pain in the toe joints, and can't blow in the wind or it will sting like a million bees.

Does gout stop when uric acid is normalized?

High uric acid can cause gout attacks, causing joint pain attacks. Therefore, patients with high uric acid must pay attention to it and seek professional doctors or hospitals for timely treatment.

Patients with high uric acid in the diet prohibit eating spicy stimulating food, prohibit eating seafood and drinking beer, patients with high uric acid to eat some vitamin-containing fruits or vegetables: such as: apples, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, winter melon and other foods, but also can eat some protein foods: such as: chicken, eggs, milk, lean meat and other foods. The main thing for patients with high uric acid is to drink more water, the amount of water in 2000-3000 milliliters per day, which is conducive to the uric acid out of the body.