Have you ever thought of gout being connected with weight gain? Well, this is actually quite true, and the reason? That, will be answered by the statistics, because they are the ones who suggest it!
Firstly, weight gain is commonly unhealthy, unless, of course, if you are underweight. So, why not have it connected with gout? There are some who suffers from diabetes, who are advised to stay away from gaining weight. This is the same with those who suffer from hypertension. Well, it is actually safe to say that any health condition is connected to weight, isn’t it? ERRONEOUS!
It is true that gout is in association with weight gain. However, this is not just because of numbers. There is this underlying reason behind it. How, having the knowledge and understanding that weight gain and gout have a connection with each other, let’s find out if weight loss is really beneficial in treating gout.
Weight Gain and Gout
There is this one quotation by George H. Ellwanger, through his book: Meditations on Gout: With A Consideration Of Its Cure Through The Use of Wine, “The Malady,” 1987. This may cause you to raise your own eyebrows, so brace yourself and continue reading on!
“That a person afflicted with Gout should receive little sympathy, except from his physician or from his fellow-sufferers, is scarce to be wondered at, in view of the opinion that the disease is a just punishment to the offender…. To think that a bottle of wine or a truffled paté, or even a glass of beer, instead of being absorbed and eliminated by the system in the usual manner, should mine its way through the thighs, knees, calves, ankles, and instep, to explode at last in a fiery volcano in one’s great toe, seems a mirth-provoking phenomenon to all but him who is immediately concerned.”
This particular quotation may hit the nerve of a person suffering from gout. Both weight gain and gout became the entry to the stereotyping and the generalization that all of those who suffer from gout and those skinny people are overeaters, who just indulge themselves with pleasures as if it’s not the end of the world. In the actual fact, gout is hailed as the illness of the kings. This is since those who suffer from the condition in the ancient times are only the royalties. Luckily, this isn’t always the case. Weight loss and gout aren’t always the results of the victim’s doing. Actually, in most of the cases, it is not. There is a hidden cause that many of us fail to see, the very same reason why weight loss will never be an instant solution for gout.
Acidosis
One of the weirdest things about gout is actually the presence of the uric acid crystals in the joints. Have you ever thought, why would such a crystal exist even though the body is good in trashing them out? The reason for it is acidosis.
Acidosis, as its name implies, is the state of having an excessive amount of acids in the body. With this excessive amount of acid, the uric acid will not be properly excreted. This will be a heavy-load of task for the liver. This is since the attention will be divided in between taking care of the excess acids and in flushing out the uric acid.
This will help in increasing the rate of the uric acid excretion. Thus letting it accumulate in spite the excellent ability of the body in disposing of all its rubbish.
The Worse Gout Attack
Losing weight can be of a big help in the long period of time. Well, this is if you are able to endure the long gout attacks.
If you are going to lose weight very fast, you may find yourself having too many acids. This is mainly due to the mechanism of weight loss. Glucose is the ideal source of energy for the body. It may be utilized fastest in comparison to some other forms. Therefore, if you consume glucose, it’ll be processed by the liver and the liver will end it to the cells.
With no more energy, the body will produce more glucose. This certain process will then be known as the glucogenesis. The byproduct of which will be the ketones, yet another energy source. However, the ketones may only be utilized by certain organs, like the brain. This just means, there shouldn’t be excessive ketones. The ketones are acidic. Thus inducing acidosis. Actually, ketoacidosis may be fatal. The process of converting also releases the lactic and uric acid that is trapped in the muscle fats and mass. Therefore, making acidity much worse. This will then cause the liver to struggle in flushing all of those acids out. The lesser the uric acid to be flushed out, the worse the gout attacks are.
