"Big stones" will grow out of thin air in people's joints. The horror of this disease is far more than just pain.

Guangzhou Medical University held its 2024 graduation ceremony, and Academician Zhong Nanshan was staggering when he attended the ceremony. In response to rumors of his leg and foot problems, Zhong Nanshan said that he suffers from gout, and his heart, liver, brain, lungs, and kidneys are all normal, so it's nothing serious. "Gout" is not uncommon in China, and the disease is affecting more and more people at an alarming rate.

How painful is gout?

Gout is the full name of acute gouty arthritis. It is called gout because it is as elusive as the wind. The typical process of an attack is that you go to bed fine, but wake up in the middle of the night because of joint pain.

Gout attacks are unbearable

And gout is very painful. In the cartoon "Gout" published in 1799, the famous British cartoonist James Geary described gout as a black devil gnawing at people's feet. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is heart-wrenching.

There is a rumor that a tough guy who has experienced many battles and never shed a tear even when seriously injured, but cries like a wronged child when he gets gout. The horror of gout is far more than just pain. It can also cause huge "stones" to grow out of thin air in the joints. In mild cases, the joints become deformed, and in severe cases, the joints rupture and ulcerate until the bones are exposed. After infection, amputation is necessary to save lives.

Gout seems to be particularly fond of kings, generals, and dignitaries. In the book "The 100 Most Influential People in History", at least 10 of the 100 celebrities mentioned suffered from gout, far exceeding the normal proportion. Goethe, Leonardo da Vinci, Newton, and Kublai Khan, the founding emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, all suffered from gout for a long time. Therefore, gout is also known as the "disease of kings".

If you think that the "king's disease" has nothing to do with ordinary people, you are wrong. The "Guidelines for Dietary Treatment of Hyperuricemia and Gout in Adults (2024 Edition)" issued by the National Health Commission mentioned that the monitoring data of chronic diseases and risk factors in China from 2018 to 2019 showed that the prevalence of gout among adult residents in my country was 0.86%~2.20%, with men higher than women, cities higher than rural areas, and coastal areas higher than inland areas. The prevalence of gout has been increasing year by year, and the age of onset is tending to be younger.

Be careful about diseases entering your body through your diet!

As the saying goes, "diseases come from the mouth." The occurrence of gout is closely related to diet and lifestyle. When many people stay in air-conditioned rooms and indulge in milk tea, duck necks, and beer, gout may have quietly come to their door.

Medical research shows that gout is a disease caused by high uric acid levels, which leads to the deposition of uric acid crystals in the joints. Urate crystals are deposited in the joints, soft tissues and kidneys, stimulating inflammation, which gradually leads to joint inflammation, resulting in gout.

Uric acid is metabolized by purine. 80% of the uric acid in the body comes from endogenous purine metabolism, and the other 20% is produced by exogenous food. Therefore, the level of uric acid in the human body is directly affected by diet.

On the one hand, the more purines the human body ingests, the more uric acid metabolized. For example, meat, seafood, and offal are typical high-purine foods. On the other hand, some lifestyle habits themselves do not increase the intake of exogenous purines, but affect the body's metabolism and can also lead to high uric acid.

Seafood is a typical high-purine food

The most typical example is drinking alcohol. Although alcohol is not a purine, it increases the production of endogenous purines when metabolized in the body, thereby raising the body's uric acid level, which is no less harmful than high-purine foods. In addition, the harm of fructose is also easily overlooked. Although it looks harmless to humans and animals, excessive intake may also induce an increase in uric acid levels.

So this is also the reason why gout attacks are more frequent in summer, which is mainly related to eating seafood, drinking beer, and consuming a large amount of fructose-containing beverages at one time.

In addition, due to different dietary structures, the distribution of high uric acid prevalence in the country shows regional differences. The highest prevalence is in South China, at 25.5%, which means that one in four people in South China has high uric acid; the second is in Southwest China, at 21.2%; the lowest is in Northwest China, at only 12.6%.

Especially in Guangdong, a study in 2021 sampled 6,491 healthy people aged 20 to 99 in the Pearl River Delta region and found that 34.05% had high uric acid, and the proportion of men was even more exaggerated, at 41.53%. Even middle school students have high uric acid. A spot check by the Guangzhou Primary and Secondary School Health Promotion Center found that the detection rate of high uric acid levels among high school students in urban Guangzhou was as high as 50.37%. Making soup, eating pickled food, and showing off sugar water, every behavior that can cause high uric acid has not been left out, which is in line with the saying "East, West, South, North, and Center, Gout is the biggest in Guangdong."

How to stay away from gout?

Many people have a low level of awareness and attention to gout, and think that gout can be left untreated as long as it does not hurt. Little do they know that gout that is not treated in a standardized manner can easily lead to repeated attacks of acute gouty arthritis, multiple organ dysfunction, and even serious life-threatening complications (such as gastrointestinal bleeding, tophi combined with infection and bone destruction, gouty nephropathy leading to renal insufficiency and uremia, etc.).

So, how to prevent gout in daily life? Many people only know that gout is caused by "eating too much meat". In fact, gout is a complex metabolic disease that requires comprehensive management and treatment. In particular, controlling diet and adjusting lifestyle are crucial to preventing and controlling gout.

Obesity is an independent risk factor for high uric acid and gout. Proper diet, reduced intake of high-purine foods, and maintaining a healthy weight can help control uric acid levels, reduce gout attacks, and improve quality of life.

Drinking alcohol can increase the body's uric acid level

People with high uric acid and gout should choose food ingredients scientifically and strictly control the purine content in their diet. Animal offal such as liver, kidney, heart, etc. generally have higher purine content than ordinary meat and should be avoided as much as possible. Egg whites and milk have lower purine content and can be eaten safely.

In addition, drinking water regularly can promote uric acid excretion. Drinking alcohol increases the risk of hyperuricemia and gout. Fructose can induce metabolic abnormalities and cause insulin resistance, which has the potential to induce elevated uric acid levels. Foods with high fructose content, such as sugary drinks, freshly squeezed fruit juice, fructose syrup, and candied fruits, should be limited.

Developing a habit of regular and moderate exercise is also one of the effective prevention and treatment measures for hyperuricemia and gout. Under the principle of ensuring safety, people with hyperuricemia and gout should choose sports that are suitable for them, exercise step by step, and enhance their metabolic and immune functions.

In short, it means "control your mouth, move your legs, eat less meat, and drink more water."