Gout Treatments-Part 4|3 Ways Strawberries Help Get Rid of Painful Gout Attacks

3 Ways Strawberries Help Get Rid of Gout

We are currently on a series on different methods of gout treatments. So far, we have discussed the ways that pineapples, grapes, and bananas help ease painful gout symptoms. Next up on the list are strawberries. We are almost into strawberry season so if you suffer from gout, please take the time to eat some fresh strawberries in the next couple months because they will help reduce your incidence and severity of gout attacks.



So how do strawberries help get rid of gout?



First of all, strawberries have a high Vitamin C content. As we saw for the other treatments for gout, at least three studies have reported that Vitamin C will either reduce uric acid levels or protect against gout. One study showed that vitamin C reduced uric acid by 10-15%. This alone is enough for me to make strawberries part of my gout treatments program.

Strawberries have a very high Vitamin C content compared to other fruits (59 mg per 100 gram serving) and they also contain a high quantity of flavonoids. Their flavonoids' profile (the anthocyanidins, flavan-3-ols and so on) is comparable to cherries, in some ways they do better than cherries for gout, the leading natural remedy for gout.



The Vitamin C in strawberries helps neutralize uric acid which will help lower the quantities of crystals found in your joints, which is what causes gout pain.


Another way strawberries help get rid of gout is by the flavonoid quercetin. Quercetin, the dietary supplement, is reportedly helpful in treating gout, because it's an antioxidant and because it may inhibit xanthine oxidase which will lower uric acid creation. Quercitin helps reduce inflammation and is found in strawberries. It is also found in pineapples, onions, and apples (the apples' skin). Grapefruits are another fine source as well as some green leafy vegetables.



As with the other fruits we've discussed, it is important to have a balance of different types of fruits and vegetables that can help you get rid of your gout. Strawberries all by themselves will reduce your incidences of gout, but not help you get rid of it altogether. So please consider using variety. Next up on our list is blueberries.



Until later,



Medicman

Gout Treatment News

New Natural Gout Treatment Being Tested At Science Competition

I thought I'd take the quickly mention one of the possible new treatments for gout some of you may wish to keep an eye on. There is a science competition taking place in the United States and a group of Malaysian students is going to test a natural remedy that Malaysians have used for centuries for differing maladies.

The article stated, "Fatimah Thohirah Abdul Halim from SMK Wangsa Melawati said
she spent a year researching the potential benefits of local plant kelempayan
(Neolamarkcia cadamba) for the treatment of gout. "Kelempayan has always been used in traditional Malay treatment. We could be looking at the cure for gout
without nasty side effects as it is derived naturally," she said. " This competition is slated to begin tomorrow through May 16th. You can read the whole article here.

Until later,

Medicman

Gout Treatments-Part 3|Bananas

Simple Ways Bananas Improve Your Gout Symptoms Naturally

This is the third installment of our series on gout treatments. The first two remedies mentioned in this series were pineapples and grapes. This series is meant to give you alternative gout treatments to consider so you can reduce or eliminate the sharp fiery pain that is so common among episodes of this painful disease. So how can bananas help improve your pain?


A Gout Treatment that Reduces Inflammation.

Bananas are loaded with potassium. Potassium is very critical when it comes to properly treating this condition. As has been mentioned in other posts, potassium helps to liquefy uric acid. The pain from gout is mostly caused by inflammation due to increased uric acid crystallization in the joints, most commonly in the big toe, but this can occur in other joints as well. The liquefying of those crystals helps them to move out of the joint and be processed for urination by the kidneys (your renal system). Your kidneys act as an equalizer and help bring the body into balance by lowering your body's uric acid content to normal (in medical terms this is called homeostasis).

Bananas have a moderate level of potassium. Whereas pineapples and grapes both have potassium, but are lower, bananas have around 10% of your daily recommended allowance for potassium (3500mg). The average banana contains approximately 358mg. Adding bananas to a fruit mix of pineapples and grapes would really help you get closer to increasing your potassium levels to where your body is able to properly eliminate the excess crystallization that is causing you pain. Another benefit to potassium is that it also helps prevent your body from becoming too acidic.

You can supplement potassium, but I seriously advise you to seek a physician as potassium needs to be kept in proper balance since it plays an important role in your heart rhythm regularity.


A Gout Treatment that Reduces Uric Acid Levels

As mentioned above, excess uric acid leads to crystallization in the joints. If you have gout banana helps combat this because they are loaded with vitamin C which has been shown to reduce uric acid levels by 10% when taken in enough quantities (500mg was the test quantity). An average serving of bananas contains approximately 15% of your daily total, although the recommended total is less than the 500mg used during the test results showing the decrease in uric acid due to vitamin C usage.

Vitamin C also helps with repairing connective tissue in your joints that the crystals are tearing down. This is vital in getting rid of gout pain .

Conclusion

Bananas, just like pineapples and grapes cannot beat gout alone. With their ability to go to the heart of gout pain by helping to reduce swelling and the crystallization that causes swelling bananas should be part of your natural treatments for gout program.

Until later,

Medicman

Gout Treatments-Part 2|Grapes

How Grapes are Helping Gout Sufferers Reduce Their Pain

How many times have we heard that eating plenty of fruits and vegetables are crucial in our ability to get rid of gout. The fact that fruits are so effective as natural remedies for gout is the reason for this gout treatments series.

Next up on the list is grapes. Grapes are another natural gout remedy that is not commonly used as a gout treatments therapy. As with pineapples, grapes by themselves will not get rid of gout, but they have a lot of potential when used with other therapies. There are quite a few ways that grapes can help to relieve gout pain. The following list contains the properties of grapes that help ease your pain.


Water

One of the benefits of eating grapes are they are made up mostly of water. In fact, they are roughly 2/3 composed of water. As we've seen in an earlier post on proper hydration as an effective natural gout treatments solution,water helps flush the extra uric acid out of your system, while helping to reduce inflammation. As I mentioned in that post, you can also help supplement your water intake by eating water dense foods, such as grapes. Water is an excellent gout treatments therapy no matter what form you take it in.


Quercitin

Quercitin is a flavonoid. Flavonoids are known to have beneficial anti-swelling abilities. Obviously, this is a major benefit in getting rid of gout pain as swelling is what causes the majority of a person's gout discomfort. As an extra benefit, quercitin is noted be a great cancer fighter due to it's ability to help fight off tumor growth. You should consider other foods with quercitin such as cherries, the king of gout treatments, to help ease gout attacks. Quercitin also comes in supplement form.


Anthocyanins

Anthocyanins are also flavonoids. Flavonoid compounds are thought to block the pain messages carried by the COX enzyme in the body. So, anthocyanins, as with quercitin helps to reduce swelling and block pain receptors simultaneously. They are found in dark skinned fruits, such as red grapes and cherries. The best grapes to take in your gout treatments arsenal are red grapes as white grapes were not found to have hardly any levels of anthocyanins.


Potassium

Grapes, as with bananas also contain potassium. Whereas, bananas contain approx. 115mg of potassium per serving (100g or 3.5 oz), grapes contain approx. 191mg per serving. Combine these two fruits in a fruit salad to help you work towards your daily totals for potassium and fruit consumption.

As mentioned in the last post about pineapples and gout, potassium helps put uric acid into a solution versus being crystallized, which helps your kidneys excrete the excess uric acid out of your system.


Alkalinity

Grapes are considered, as well as bananas to be alkaline inducing foods. Your body works on a pH balance and it is healthier for the body to be in an alkaline state versus an acidic state. Part of the problem with gout is the acidic nature of your blood. Grapes are fairly alkaline, despite having acids in them. It is the soluble salts such as salt of potassium in the grapes which make them alkaline. This helps neutralize the uric acid in your body thereby helping reduce your gout symptoms.

Vitamin C

Grapes also contain vitamin C which are a vital part of any gout treatments therapy. The vitamin C content in grapes is not huge, around 10mg, but it is helpful. Whereas grapes have more potassium than bananas, bananas have more vitamin C than grapes. Vitamin C is noted for preventing purines from forming into too much uric acid.

Conclusion

It is possible to find healthy natural gout treatments to cure your painful gout symptoms. Grapes are a great way to mix variety into your diet and is why grapes should be considered as one of the important cures in your gout treatments therapy.

Until later,

Medicman