Facts and Fallacies About Home Remedies for Gout

So much has been said and written about home remedies for gout, it may often lead people into confusion as to what is true and what is not. Let us tackle some matters about gout and separate each fact from the fallacy:

Facts:

1. There are no definite home remedies for gout to prevent gout pains from recurring. No matter how many people claim that this and that home remedy took away their gout pains for good, this is not at all true. Different remedies have different effects on different people. This is one reason why until now, there still is no definite cure for gout and gout pains.

2. Losing weight will make a gout sufferer manage his or her gout attacks better. Losing weight means lessening the pressure on your joints while suffering from gout pains. Losing weight may also mean that the levels of your uric acid may have gone down. Still, losing weight does not mean you are totally free from gout and may still experience gout attacks from time to time.

3. A gout-friendly diet is one that includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and only a portion of meat, oily fish and chicken meat. This is the basic gout diet. Fad diet programs highly publicized in magazines and books as the latest wonders should not be gobbled up too easily. Again, different strokes for different folks.

4. Oily fish have better benefits than other meat products. Eating oily fish like herring, sardines, kippers, mackerel, pilchards and tuna twice in a week but only in small portions, help relieve gout swelling. This is due to the fact that oily fish and cod liver oil contain omega 3 fatty acids which has an anti-inflammatory effect.

Fallacies

1. Eating citrus fruits can cause gout attacks. Food substances have different types of acid, hence, there is no medical support to the claim that citrus acid triggers gout attacks.

2. Aubergines or eggplants, tomatoes and red peppers can cause gout attacks. There is no general evidence in support of this. Although some people may have experienced gout attacks to these foods as an allergic reaction but only in isolated or rare cases.

Again, different people have different responses to different foods. Beside, you should not discount the fact that tomatoes are beneficial as a good source of Vitamin C, which helps lessen uric acid crystallization.

3. Green lipped mussels and seaweeds can be beneficial as gout remedies. This is probably true in isolated cases but not as a general treatment, since there is no medical evidence to support this.

4. Cider vinegar, selenium, and molasses are also effective gout remedies. The effects of these remedies have been touted as placebo effects or mind over matter effects. They have also been cited as causes for allergies, hence it is not generally recommended as gout remedy.

As a rule, home remedies for gout are not discouraged because there are some cases that they were proven effective. However, medical researchers have a reason to believe that the physiology of certain individuals contribute largely in creating a positive or negative response to these home remedies for gout.

The combination of physical attributes and genetic compositions differ from one person to another, hence some people may react differently for each type of remedy.

Clinical tests aim to arrive at home remedies for gout that will produce benefits to a great number of people, who are more or less in the same levels of body condition and metabolic compositions.