Gout Treatments Survey

What Gout Treatments are You Interested in Learning About?

This post is to ask you what you would like to learn about gout treatments. Please feel free to post a comment so I can post about aspects of gout you are interested in.

1. How long have you suffered from gout?
2. What treatments for gout do you currently use, natural, prescription, or both?
3. What remedies would you like to hear more about?
4. Are you more interested in what causes gout or remedies to treat gout?

Again, please feel free to use the comments.

Medic

Should You Use Cherries for Gout?

Why Cherries are Vital to Your Gout Treatments Plan

This is the last installment of our Natural Gout Treatments series focusing on fruits and how they treat gout. This gout treatments series started with pineapples and now we are going to finish with the king of therapies for gout and arthritis, cherries.


What makes cherries potent in their ability to get rid of gout?

First up is quercitin. Quercitin helps get rid of gout by preventing swelling. It prevents swelling by inhibiting the release and production of histamine. Histamine causes inflammation. You see this a lot in people with severe allergic reactions. That is one of the reasons why those who have minor allergic reactions are told to use Benadryl, because it is an antihistamine.

There is a total of 3mg of quercitin in sweet cherries with a significant more amount in tart cherries.

You can also take quercitin as a supplement, but do not do this if you are on antibiotics. Make sure you tell your physician if you are taking quercitin so you can avoid any unnecessary complications from antibiotics.

Anthocyanins

Anthocyanins are what cause the dark colors in cherries. Anthocyanins are plentiful in cherries. "Twenty cherries provide 25 milligrams of anthocyanins, which help to shut down the enzymes that cause tissue inflammation in the first place, so cherries can prevent and treat many kinds of pain," says Muraleedharan Nair, the lead researcher on the cherry project at Michigan State University. The anthocyanins also may protect artery walls from the damage that leads to plaque build up and heart disease. In fact, the latest research shows that anthocyanins do a better job of protecting arteries than vitamins C and E.

--Wang, H. et al. 1999 Anti-oxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Anthocyanins and their Alglycon, Cyanid, from Tart Cherries. Journal of Natural Products 62(2): 294-296.


There are approximately 80-300mg of anthocyanins in pitted darker varieties of cherries so you may want to eat darker cherries more frequently than lighter varieties of cherries.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C has been a recurring theme in this series as all the foods in that have been mentioned contain Vitamin C. Read about how vitamin C is one of the best treatments for gout and how it is essential to helping you get rid of gout. Cherries contain 7mg of vitamin C per serving.

Fiber

Another reason using cherries for gout is beneficial is due to fiber. Fiber helps you in your fight to lose weight which is a common factor with those who have gout symptoms. The average serving of cherries contains 2g of fiber. While this is not a huge amount ( recommended daily dose of fiber is 24g), it will get you started.


Cherry facts

Michigan produces 70-75% of all tart cherries in the United States with Montmerency cherries being the most harvested. I use King Orchard's Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate, also out of Michigan (2 oz. per day on average) as part of my gout treatments regimen except for mid-summer when cherry fruit stands come out in force. Then I eat all the fresh cherries for gout I can handle. The fresh cherries make a nice break from drinking the cherry juice. If you don't like cherry juice, another option is to take cherry concentrate in pill form.

For more information on cherries, here is an informative article on cherries and their great natural pain killing abilities. The source is from one of the great writers for "Mike the Health Ranger" at naturalnews.com. I am a regular reader of Mike's and if you are into natural remedies for whatever ails you or concerns you, I very highly recommend his site.

How effective is Cherry Juice for Gout?

Cherry juice is very effective for all the gout causes that we are aware of. I use cherry juice concentrate all the time. As long as the company you choose has quality cherries it will not matter which product you use. I personally have used Michelle's Cherry juice and King's cherry juice for gout and both have worked very well. I did not notice any difference in their effectiveness.

How much should you use? I use the concentrated formula because it is much cheaper. It can be around 7-8 dollars for a regular cherry juice and the same sized concentrated juice can cost around 19-20 dollars. That is quite the savings. A regular bottle will last me a day or two, while the concentrate will last me around a month. I simply pour 1-2 oz. in a regular sized glass and fill it full of water. If you use a small glass the cherry flavor can be a bit overwhelming. I do this once in the morning and once at night. If I feel that a gout attack is imminent or am feeling "twinges" I take another glass during the day. I believe cherry juice and gout go hand in hand if you want to get rid of the pain associated with this disease.

Which cherries should I choose?

Tart cherries for gout seem to have the most scientific basis for usage. Darker varieties have more anthocyanins so that is something to consider as well. Ultimately, they all will work fairly well. I personally usually use montmorency cherries.

Conclusion

When it comes to cherries and gout, whether you use tart cherries, bing cherries, or black cherries for gout, they are worth their weight in gold when it comes to gout remedies for this very painful type of arthritis. From helping with inflammation to lowering uric acid levels, they are the complete package. If you have gout and cherries are not part of your gout cures arsenal, make them part of it today.



Until later,

Medic

Gout Treatments-Part 5|Blueberries

3 Ways Blueberries Help You Get Rid of Gout Pain

This is part five of a six-part installment on natural gout treatments. Click on the link for the beginning of this natural gout treatments series if you haven't had the chance to read the other parts of this series yet. So far we've discussed pineapples, grapes, bananas, and strawberries.

Todays post focuses on why blueberries should be a part of your gout treatments plan.

Anti-inflammation

One of the main causes of gout is inflammation. Effective gout treatments should contain foods that have anti-inflammatory properties, and blueberries go to the root of the problem. Blueberries contain potassium which as we've seen throughout this treatments for gout series reduces inflammation and helps reduce uric acid levels. Blueberries have around 77mg of potassium per serving.

Anthocyanins

Blueberries also contain anthyocyanins. Anthocyanins are what give the blueberries their dark color. These have very powerful anti-inflammatory properties and are very good at fighting disease. This is also why cherries for gout are so well thought of.

The cause for swelling in affected joints is the formation of excess uric acid crystals and anthocyanins help reduce swelling by lowering your urate levels. Not to mention all the other benefits and cancer-fighting antioxidants that blueberries have, you can't go wrong eating these tasty treats.

A government study of anthocyanins in blueberries found that blueberries contained 7.2mg in fresh varieties, 4.3mg in dried varieties, frozen 1 month 8.1mg, and frozen 3 months 7.9mg. They are not quite as potent as cherries at 25 mg of anthocyanins per 20 cherries, but still quite good.

Vitamin C

As we've seen in earlier posts, vitamin C plays a very important role in treating gout. Vitamin C has been shown to lessen serum uric acid levels. Blueberries don't have a lot of vitamin C (around 10mg per serving), but they contain enough of the other elements such as anthocyanins that they are worth eating to help get rid of gout.


Overall, blueberries are an excellent choice to add to your gout treatments plan. Next up, and last in our series are the king of gout treatments, cherries.

Until later,

Medicman