Gout and Heart Disease

Statistics show that many gout sufferers also have heart problems. Medical men argue whether one causes the other or if they are a common consequence of heredity, bad diet or lifestyle choices. Today I'll tell you about a new study that shows that gout and heart disease are linked. You will see that, if you suffer from either condition, you must take treatments that will help both. Back in 2005, researchers analyzed thousands of gout patients, looking for links between gout and other illnesses. Their study, Gout and the Risk of Acute Myocardial Infarction, proved that gout patients had more heart attacks than people without gout. But how are the two linked? Critics pointed to the fact that the study was based on statistical analysis of medical records. This type of study, known as epidemiological, is a common way that researchers can establish health trends in populations to identify, amongst other things, risk factors associated with various diseases. Whilst not denying the...
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Free Gout Diet Plan

My, soon to be launched, free Gout Diet Plan, is nearly complete now. I've been busy preparing tables on GoutPal.com - not that my plan is about measuring all food and living by a calculator - I just like to have basic food information handy as it helps with choices. When I've been collecting the data for these tables I've often wondered why it is that some people look for food that will help their gout, but most appear to be looking for food to avoid. These types of questions are quite important to how you try to manage gout. Do you look for negatives to avoid, or do you look for positives that will help you? Understand Gout Diet Plan better with the Gout Diet guidelines...
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Gout Diet Principles

Every gout sufferer is concerned about food, but before you start a gout diet, make sure that it is built on sound principles. Gout diets, like any form of gout treatment, need to recognize and improve three distinct phases: stop gout triggers, reduce gout pain and lower uric acid. Let me explain how a good gout diet relates to the three basic phases of gout management. (more…)...
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Allopurinol Medication: What Is The Truth?

If you are on allopurinol medication for your gout, you should be getting good advice and regular checkups from your doctor. Like myself, I know many of you look for more information on the Internet. That's a good thing if it helps you, but beware of misleading lies and half-truths. Experience tells me that there is a lot of misinformation about gout, and also opinion masquerading as fact. Sometimes opinions, including my own, turn out wrong, but that is the nature of gout, which needs much more research. Wherever I can, I like to give references for my information, so that you can check it yourself. I'm so appalled by what I found today when searching for "allopurinol medication", that I'm not going to refer directly to my source, though you can probably search for it yourself using the gout search form at the top and bottom of every page. One page at the top, or near the top of my search for...
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Coffee and Gout

The June 2007 edition of Arthritis & Rheumatism reports, in Coffee Consumption and Risk of Incident Gout in Men: A Prospective Study, that there is a strong link between drinking coffee and a reduced risk of gout. This is another finding from a statistical study of thousands of American men that I have mentioned before. The authors are keen to point out the limitations of this study, in that it is based only on professional men, is self-reporting with no medical supervision, and may be not cover all important factors. That said, this is surely a prime candidate for some comprehensive clinical studies. Come on, you researchers - give us some proof that Java can make us dance....
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Gouty Arthritis Treatment

Management of acute goutBetter gouty arthritis treatment is a major concern for gout sufferers throughout the world. My better gout treatment campaign is dedicated to improving medical and care procedures for all gout sufferers. My correspondence shows that this is a worldwide problem. British rheumatologists have completed some guidelines for the management of gout. The aim of those guidelines is to: develop concise, patient-focussed, evidence-based recommendations for the management of gout for doctors and allied heath professionals in primary care and hospital practice in the UK, which will also provide a useful resource for patients. My aim is to provide a clear and concise gout patient guide that tells you what you should expect and request when you see your doctor about gout. To do this, I will analyze these guidelines, and other relevant publications, discuss them with you in the gout forum, and develop a simple gout patient guide. I am still waiting to see the full guidelines, but the executive summary Full...
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Treatment For Gout – Guidelines Chart

To make it easier to understand the treatment for gout guidelines, I have produced a chart showing which guidelines are important for your gout. You simply follow the questions and recommendations to find the most important gout treatment recommendations for your situation. If you need further information about any treatment for gout guideline, you simply click the link to the discussion for that guideline. Please note that, as of 2010, the old discussions are no longer available, but you can start a new discussion to discuss your questions or opinions on gout treatment guidelines. Please feel free to ask any question about the recommended treatment for gout. If you want to comment on the layout of the chart, you can do so below - I really appreciate your feedback. As of 2011, I am totally reorganizing my gout treatment help section, and once that is finished, I will update and extend the gout management guideline charts. If you like this type of...
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