We are gout diet specialists who wishes to end generic gout diets that are unnecessarily restrictive and difficult to follow. We aim to avoid over-reliance on pharmaceuticals, and reduce gout flairs with our simplified, more up to date recommendations.

Gout can be extremely life limiting and has begun to affect relatively young, active people. It can impact your ability to work, exercise and be a parent. Despite current diet recommendations, none of our gout clients tend to have been eating and drinking like Victorian Royals.The condition is making a resurgence - but clearly not for the reasons of the past. This clearly requires a diet update and better understanding gout causes.

By making the gout diet more effective, flares can be prevented and managed naturally. We’ve undertaken a lot of research and dedicated a lot of time to understanding the causes of gout in the modern day human and diet, making the diet simpler and more personalised diet to the individual.

We’re taking an up to date look at why gout is now the UK’s most common form of inflammatory arthritis in relation to the modern diet and lifestyle, targeting the root of the problem head-on. We’re dispelling some of the gout diet and lifestyle myths, leaving you with a diet that you can manage with ease.

If you’re stuck, get yourself booked in for a consultation with one of our experts who will take a detailed look at where you’re going wrong with your diet, what you’re missing, what else you can do, how you can make the diet easier, and less restricive. We’ll also review underlying causes, so we can target your gout head-on.

gout form

Name

First Name

Last Name

Email

Do you suffer with constipation frequently?

For how long have you struggled with constipation?

Any other health issues or concerns?

Diagnosed conditions, previous surgeries/accidents, or current medication?

Any serious disease in your close family?

Do you experience weight gain that doesn't respond much to diet restrictions?

Did the weight gain come on suddenly?

Do you carry weight around the middle a fair bit?

Can't loose weight no matter what you do?

Anything else we should know?

Content

How to know if i have Gout - and the fastest way to get rid of it
What to do when the gout diet isn’t working: A Nutritionist update of the current recommendations
What really causes high uric acid?
How do you get rid of uric acid in the body fast
How Uric Acid is not the only cause & 5 other causes of gout
The Gout Diet: Why it’s not always enough to prevent reoccurrence
5 Top Foods that can trigger gout
What other foods are good for gout sufferers?
What are the worst food for gout?
Different gout diets in a flare (acute) to prevention of another flare (non-acute)
How to get started

HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE GOUT and the fastest way to get rid of it

Gout is unique in its nature, in that a flare can be extremely ‘acute’. You will likely have experienced pain that is very severe, often very sudden and very sharp. It’s not always taken all that seriously, as it often affects joints small in size such as the big toe :). But the pain is real. The skin can be red and inflamed looking, which is not seen in regular osteoarthritis. If you have knee gout, you’ll have hard time using your leg or driving. Your doctor will need to do a blood test.

The fastest way to get rid of gout, is by increasing the excretion of uric acid, as this is a bigger problem than the uric acid you’re ‘putting in’ (diet).

Getting the gout diet to work better for you requires an understanding of your individual causes

Does diet really CAUSE GOUT?

Whilst dietary purines are thought to be able to increase uric acid in the blood - it’s not as simple as just ‘purines in = uric acid high = gout’.

Much of the dietary advice around gout has not been updated from Victorian times, because our understanding has not been updated to reflect the life and diet of a modern human. We’ve not had a client so far where wine, port or organ meat was the source of their gout issue. Our diets have changed beyond recognition since the Victorian era, and we have new dietary challenges. We’ve scoured the research to connect the dots between the modern diet, uric acid mechanism and the likelihood of gout occurring. In our opinion, current gout recommendations are too generic, conflicting and ineffective. We need more personalisation and consideration of the root cause. This makes management so much more effective and doable.

Gout has exploded, with a huge increase the last decade. Worryingly, the number of patients aged between 20 and 30 had increased by 30%. That’s a whole lifetime of worry, diet stress and intermittent pain and reduced exercise.

What really causes high uric acid?

We start life with lower UA levels, which increase as we age. Men have higher UA, but women after menopause increase. Repeated flares are common in sufferers, and gout is more likely in people who are male, have an increased level of low grade inflammation, or have a ‘weakness’ in their kidneys. It’s also thought that a previous injury in the joint such as the knee, can make it easier for gout to settle in that joint.

Talk to us about your symptoms

How do you get rid of uric acid in the body.

Uric acid can rise because of several factors, such as:

How much uric acid your body produces
Your purine intake via diet and alcohol
How much uric acid the body excretes

This a normal process, but in gout this balance is tipped the wrong way. Surprisingly, only 5% of those with high uric acid actually forms crystals and therefore experience what we call gout! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090123217300450 so this tells us that whilst high uric acid is part of the cause this is not the whole picture. And THIS is our job as Functional Medicine Nutritionists to root out.

Whilst research has been pretty clear that diet may raise uric acid, other studies show that 90% of the problem is in fact due to insufficient excretion. Think of it as a bucket analogy. Too much in and not enough out equals an over flowing bucket. So whilst purines don’t cause the disease (if if did everyone would have gout), but rather, it’s a perfect storm of an imbalance.

the real causes of gout other than diet

Image of Constipation and microbiome stool test floating on blue background — **Do you have a gut imbalance: Test**

The other lesser known causes of Gout

As functional medicine practitioners, we know how to look at a diseases through a whole-body sense. And through that lens, we can see several factors that impacts the chances of your body creating gout. You can skip over this section if you’re not technically minded.

Pre-existing Health of the Joint: Proteoglycans and degradation of the joint
Gut Health: Gut bacteria balance and/or constipation. Lack of clearing of purines
Kidney Health! nsaids painkillers, lack of sufficient hydration from water only / toxins. One out of 10 people with chronic kidney disease have gout, and an even higher percentage of people with gout have kidney disease
Weight and/or Metabolic dysfunction. An established factor to do with weight gain. You may also experience things like high cholesterol or blood pressure, Obesity hormone Leptin increases urate (precursor to uric acid).
Microbiome: pathogens or imbalance in good versus bad gut microbes
Genetics: reduction in a genet that makes ABCG2 protein which helps release (secrete) urate into the urine. I.e helping clear uric acid (Uric acid crystals are not soluble so require specific membrane transporters in order to cross cell membranes)
Gout becoming chronic (persistent, not resolving): structural damages such as inflammation in the lining of the joint synovitis, bony erosions, cartilage damage and tophi formation

The Gout Diet: Why it’s not always enough to prevent reoccurrence

You may be surprised to hear that the cause of gout will not be the same for everyone! The mechanism is, but not the underlying root - the driver of the disease.

Example: Person A may be constantly dehydrated from never drinking water and/or over exercising. Person B) may have moderate dehydration, but also constipation which causes the liver to be overwhelmed. The liver is king when it comes to getting uric acid out of the system. Person C) may drink sufficient water and have no issues with the kidneys, but eat a really processed diet, high in hidden sugars and fructose. Person D) - may have gut dysbiosis, and his gout is triggered by gut bacteria! https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2022.1051682/full

Unless you address the root cause - you’re simply painting over the cracks of the foundation. This for us is worrying, and we never want to have inflammation left unaddressed, due to it’s significant correlation with serious disease of many types.

What about genetics:

Of course we don’t always have all the answers, and in some the genetic component is strong. But by carefully assessing, addressing and reviewing compounding factors we can look at whether any of those genetic components are in fact related to how you process your diet. Our aim is always to move you forward with your health, reduce likelihood or severity of flares, and prevent other or more serious health incidences where we can.

5 Top Foods that can trigger gout

There is no one perfect gout diet, but rather the approach should be bespoke to you. Here are the usual guidelines however, but in a slightly simplified format.

Top purine foods, but don’t worry about plant sources.
Sugar and food and drink sweetened with fructose.
Very fatty foods, especially in large quantities (think Christmas day)
Total load of: beef, dark fish, seafood throughout the week. Mix in some vegetarian, plant based meals where you weren’t before.
In some people, the problem is all to do with processed carbohydrates/white flour and blood sugar response. If you know you’re midriff is growing, cholesterol rising and weight gain poorly controlled, get in touch and we’ll help direct you.

what foods can help gout sufferers?

Vegetables, potassium rich foods, fruits such as berries.
Hydration is absolute key!! In particular in a gout flare. Not tea, soft drinks - must be water. You can add a bit of lemon, and a little lemon with it is fine.
What are the worst food for Gout?
A convenience diet, high in processed meat, white flour, oils and fats, whilst being low in potassium and nutrients.
The gout diet in a flare versus the gout diet when preventing a flare
Your diet approach should be restrictive during and whilst recovering from a flare, with a view to be more moderate when in a prevention phase. Now, this will only work well if you’ve done the ground work in the foundations of your health.

Book discovery call

What are best for reducing pain in gout?

This depends on the individual imbalances, but sour cherry is one of our generic favourites because it’s food based, has science behind it, is easy to take and also aids sleep and gut health. Take a shot a day in a glass of water. Biona does a nice one, and can be purchased in ocado.

Nutritionist Blog: From the Science to Clinic Form 2 3

Name

First Name

Last Name

Email

Do you eat a diet rich in fibre?

Tell us about your gut: started, when flares, etc

What changes have you made to your diet?

Has the changes worked for you?

What would you like to happen or change?

Feeling Confused? Drop us a line with details of your current gout diet, and tell us what’s not working for you.

how to get started

Conclusion + where to start

However, this does not explain why ordinary people, who do not over indulge in very rich foods and/or have a genetic tendency, get hit with with gout. And THIS is why we need to understand more about the mechanism of gout. Only when you have a clearer picture of what’s causing uric acid for that person.

UK's cheapest SIBO test?

Nutritionist Blog: From the Science to Clinic Form 4

Name

First Name

Last Name

Email

Your constipation symptoms

When did they start?

What makes it worse?

Has it ever been a time where it was better?

What do you currently manage it with?

What is your diet like?

Taking thyroxine medication or a hypothyroid condition often worsens constipation, but we would still recommend considering the microbiome the nutrients above.