Live data from Hacker News

Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

nytimes.com

61–70 of 210 posts

Re: Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

#61
post #57
post #53

Started having severe gout attacks in 2004. Doctors are particularly unaware about gout. Despite having extremely painful and long attacks (during one attack, spent more than a month in bed unable to walk), all the doctors I saw had no idea despite endless tests. Finally based on my own research I suggested gout and they were like "oh yes, I suppose it could be that". Once diagnosed, doctors are quick to get you on d…

By cutting out “fructose” surely you don’t mean cutting out fruit? Do mean derivatives like fructose syrup and stuff?

I don't have gout, but my IBS is set off by fructose, and yes, I've had to drastically cut down on fruit.

Fortunately, vegetables are even healthier for you, and don't have significant levels of fructose.

Re: Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

#62
post #49
post #30

Dispelling bullshit time. Gout isn't caused by what you eat, it's an underlying problem with your kidneys/liver/body and an inability to extract uric acid. It can be exasterbated by drinking beer, dehydration, red meat etc. Saying it's caused by what you eat is a bit like saying peanuts cause peanut allergies, or eating gluten causes coeliacs. You already have the condition, the things you eat makes it worse. I've be…

This is not entirely true. Gout is caused by excessive levels of uric acid, which is an end-product of purine metabolism. You can get uric acid via two pathophysiologic mechanisms: under-excretion of uric acid, or over-production. Under-excretion is by far and away the most common cause of gout (think ~90% of cases). Causes for this include things like chronic kidney disease or an inborne/hereditary problem (like you…

>Excess alcohol + excess red meat is an especially bad combo

My buddy was a beer drinker and had an almost 100% beef diet, on his bi-yearly checkup they found out that the uric acid levels were too high. He switched to turkey/chicken meat and wine, got rid of the occasional brawn (as in meat jelly), and he is pretty much okay now.

Re: Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

#63
I think the jury is still out on what the the 100% correct treatment of gout or many of the modern life style related sickness. But many can be cured by reversing what one eat to what people ate 100 years ago or 20.000 years ago. 100 years would mean no processed food, vegetable oils and a lot less sugar. 20.000 years would also remove all type of wheat and corns. Here is a guy who cured gout with the carnivore diet. https://meatrx.com/category/success-stories/gout/

Re: Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

#64
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not entirely true. Gout is caused by excessive levels of uric acid, which is an end-product of purine metabolism. You can get uric acid via two pathophysiologic mechanisms: under-excretion of uric acid, or over-production. Under-excretion is by far and away the most common cause of gout (think ~90% of cases). Causes for this include things like chronic kidney disease or an inborne/hereditary problem (like you…

Wait a minute, how did red meat make its way into this post?

Red meats (beef, venison, bison) in general are higher in purines than white meats and should be eaten only occasionally. https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/healthy-living/nut...

Re: Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

#65
post #57
post #53

Started having severe gout attacks in 2004. Doctors are particularly unaware about gout. Despite having extremely painful and long attacks (during one attack, spent more than a month in bed unable to walk), all the doctors I saw had no idea despite endless tests. Finally based on my own research I suggested gout and they were like "oh yes, I suppose it could be that". Once diagnosed, doctors are quick to get you on d…

By cutting out “fructose” surely you don’t mean cutting out fruit? Do mean derivatives like fructose syrup and stuff?

Exactly. Such a weird thing to write. What were you eating too much of?

Re: Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

#66

I think the jury is still out on what the the 100% correct treatment of gout or many of the modern life style related sickness. But many can be cured by reversing what one eat to what people ate 100 years ago or 20.000 years ago. 100 years would mean no processed food, vegetable oils and a lot less sugar. 20.000 years would also remove all type of wheat and corns. Here is a guy who cured gout with the carnivore diet.…

100 years would mean no processed food, vegetable oils and a lot less sugar.

But a lot more salt.

Re: Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

#67

Got gout the first time when I as 23 - at around 185 pounds and very fit. I was cutting down for summer, and had switched over to a very high-protein diet. The first time, I thought I had broke my toe, or gotten an infection - it was absolutely horrible. I get it roughly 2-3-4 times a year now, and it is always after the following pattern: - Not drinking enough water - Eating too much chicken - Drinking too much beer…

Are the meds Colchicine?

Re: Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

#68
I've been getting attacks for about 20 years. First time it happened I woke up in agony one morning, went to the hospital and they were convinced I'd broken it. Spent a few years on Allopurinol during which I only ever had an attack if I was dehydrated from illness, then they stopped my allopurinol because of a recurrent kidney infection. Earlier this year they tried putting me back on allopurinol and I had the longest, most painful attack I've ever had lasting over two months and didn't stop until I stopped taking the allopurinol. I've now been told the only thing I can do is take colchicine when it kicks off.

Re: Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

#69
post #57
post #53

Started having severe gout attacks in 2004. Doctors are particularly unaware about gout. Despite having extremely painful and long attacks (during one attack, spent more than a month in bed unable to walk), all the doctors I saw had no idea despite endless tests. Finally based on my own research I suggested gout and they were like "oh yes, I suppose it could be that". Once diagnosed, doctors are quick to get you on d…

By cutting out “fructose” surely you don’t mean cutting out fruit? Do mean derivatives like fructose syrup and stuff?

Most fruit are nowhere near as healthy as most people expect they are. They have been selectively bred over many hundreds of years to be far larger, sweeter and more devoid of micronutrients than they were hundreds of years ago. The amount of sugar (especially fructose) in fruits like apples, oranges and bananas is shockingly high, and can cause or exacerbate conditions such as obesity, fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, gout and other metabolic or inflammatory diseases.

Replacing some fruit with vegetables instead, and choosing less sweet fruit like various berries or melons may be a good idea for most people.

Re: Once the disease of gluttonous aristocrats, gout is now tormenting the masses

#70

> Some scientists point to the dramatic rise in rates of obesity — from 13.4 percent of adults in 1980 to 42.4 percent in 2017-18, again per the NHANES — since excess weight depresses kidney efficiency, and to the likely not unrelated introduction, in 1967, of high-fructose corn syrup , which can cause the body to produce higher levels of uric acid, and its wholesale embrace in the early 1980s by the American food in…

Sugar does seem to be involved in gout but high fructose corn syrup is basically indistinguishable from sugar metabolically.

That is wrong. Fructose metabolism specifically differs from other types of sugars, by requiring a particular enzyme, which means it can only be broken down in the liver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructolysis

Unlike glucose, which is directly metabolized widely in the body, fructose is almost entirely metabolized in the liver in humans, where it is directed toward replenishment of liver glycogen and triglyceride synthesis. Under one percent of ingested fructose is directly converted to plasma triglyceride.

Post reply on HN