Gout and Cherries

Okay. So it is 4 am when you are suddenly awakened by excruciating pain in your big toe. It hurts just to move it. In fact, just the mere thought of getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom makes you wince in pain. Congratulations. You are among the growing number of Americans that have or have had gout arthritis. I am going to show you a simple solution that is proven to work to help you prevent this "pain in the big toe" from happening again. The secret?....Cherries.

But first, how did you get gout in the first place?

Gout is created because of an excess of something called uric acid. We all make uric acid. In fact, one of our enzymes is responsible for it. To be specific, the protein enzyme which is involved in the breakdown of all foods that contain protein.

In a typical healthy body, what happens is this enzyme breaks down the protein and releases a by product called uric acid. Most of the time the liver and kidneys can easily handle this and it is eliminated through your urine. However, in the case of someone who suffers from gout pain, the liver isn't able to process this acid and it winds up being recycled into the bloodstream.

From there, the uric acid will typically find a new home in the soft tissue around your joints. For one reason or another, it usually winds up in the foot. This would be okay if the uric acid didn't crystallize. Once it crystallizes, it forms a hard and sharp mineral deposit which causes inflammation which makes you hurt everytime you move.

There are number of reasons why you got gout in the first place. If you are taking any medications such as diurectics, then this could be the first reason. Diuretics tend to leech vital minerals from our bodies such as sodium, potassium,magnesium and calcium.

Another possibility is if you have been doing doing severe dieting in which you limiting the types of food you eat. Many people who went on the Atkin's diet experienced gout as a side effect to the diet.

The final possibility is that you have a problem with kidney function. When kidneys aren't functioning properly, they lose the ability to excrete uric acid out of the body. A friend of mine who had a kidney transplant experienced gout on a daily basis during his recovery phase.

So, to eliminate gout, you have to do two things:

1. reduce inflammation
2. eat things that will help your body neutralize the uric acid.
   

A recent study of 12 people who were suffering with gout found that eating 1/2 pound of cherries or drinking a full quart of cherry juice prevented gout attacks. In fact, in all 12 people, uric acid levels not only returned to normal but the gout attacks ceased.

What type of cherries should you eat to prevent gout?

It doesn't matter. The secret is in the compounds found in cherries which help to restore collagen, which the body uses to make connective tissue.Cherries also have a compound which neutralizes uric acid levels and helps to return them to normal levels.

You can also check out this article on Gout Home Remedies