Gout and Hyperuricemia
Hot summer, seafood barbecue, ice cold drinks, blowing air conditioning …… is not your “life standard”, but long-term, beware of uric acid is too high, causing acute gout attacks!
Gu Bingjie, deputy chief physician of the rheumatology and immunology department of the First Hospital of Nanjing, said that for the past few days, nearly 20 patients with hyperuricemia and gout are seen every day, 90% of which are men, and the age of onset is getting younger and younger.
So how does gout happen and why is it more common in men?
Gout is tied to blood uric acid levels
Gout, an inflammatory disease caused by the deposition of urate crystals in the joints due to high uric acid levels, and hyperuricemia and gout are different states of the same disease.
Under normal circumstances, 90% of the uric acid will be reabsorbed by the body, and the remaining 10% will be discharged from the body in the form of urine, sweat, and feces so that the body’s uric acid level maintains a dynamic balance. However, when too many purines are eaten into the excessive output of uric acid, or uric acid metabolism can not be discharged, the balance will be broken, resulting in uric acid retention in the blood, and with the blood flow in all parts of the body, in the joints through the slow blood flow, a lower temperature will be deposited to form urate crystals, resulting in an inflammatory reaction, causing severe pain.
Under normal circumstances, 90% of the uric acid will be reabsorbed by the body, and the remaining 10% will be discharged from the body in the form of urine, sweat, and feces so that the body’s uric acid level maintains a dynamic balance. However, when too many purines are eaten into the excessive output of uric acid, or uric acid metabolism can not be discharged, the balance will be broken, resulting in uric acid retention in the blood, and with the blood flow in all parts of the body, in the joints through the slow blood flow, lower temperature, will be deposited to form urate crystals, resulting in an inflammatory reaction, causing severe pain.
Why does gout “favor” men in particular?
In addition, studies have shown that hormones, as important metabolic regulators, play a role in the production and excretion of uric acid, including sex hormones, adrenocorticotropic hormone, thyroid hormone, insulin, and so on. When the endocrine system is dysregulated, the secretion or function of these hormones may be affected, leading to an increase in uric acid levels, which in turn triggers the development of gout.
There are also innate physiologic differences in hormone levels between males and females, with androgens predominating in males and estrogens in females. Estrogen can promote uric acid excretion and also inhibit urate formation. Androgens, on the other hand, inhibit the renal excretion of uric acid and reduce renal metabolic efficiency, leading to elevated levels of uric acid in the body, thereby accelerating the formation and deposition of uric acid crystals. Data show that in the general population, more than 95% of gout occurs in men, the incidence in women is just less than 5%, and the ratio of men to women is close to 20:1.
How can I reduce my risk of gout?
Not only that, the occurrence of gout or hyperuricemia is also closely related to unhealthy diet and lifestyle habits. Therefore, to reduce the risk of gout, you can prevent it daily by doing the following:
- Control your mouth: Avoid intake of high purine food, you can eat more alkaline food to improve the solubility of uric acid in the urine and increase the amount of uric acid discharged.
- Drink more water: In summer, the human body sweats a lot, and if not timely hydration, it easily leads to blood concentration, and blood uric acid concentration also rises accordingly, inducing gout.
- Weight Control: Obesity is not only a metabolic disease, but also an independent risk factor for the development of hyperuricemia and gout because fat cells release more purines, which increase uric acid levels.
- Move your legs: Foreign studies have shown that daily low-intensity aerobic exercise (such as brisk walking, jogging, swimming, etc.) for 30 to 60 minutes, 4 to 5 times a week, can reduce the incidence of gout.
Study Shows Red Light May Ease Gout Symptoms
In addition to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, in the clinical process of treating gout, swollen joints, and pain become the most troubling patient’s primary problem, there are many scientific literature points out that gout patients in red light treatment can improve tissue metabolism, accelerate the recovery of damaged nerves, and effectively shorten the time of the swelling and pain to reduce the patient’s physical and mental pain, and to promote the process of recovery, and in a recent clinical study showed that 88% of the patients with gout after red light treatment pain has been significantly improved, and even achieved the effect of complete pain relief. In a recent clinical study, it was shown that 88% of gout patients had significant improvement in pain after red light treatment, and even achieved the effect of complete pain relief.
Numerous clinical verifications also pointed out that red light can be absorbed by the body and strong penetration, can stimulate the growth of damaged peripheral nerve axons, so that the formation of nerve myelin sheaths accelerates the damaged peripheral nerve repair and regeneration, at the same time, the red light irradiation can make the local tissue of the pentazocine content is reduced, and thus play the role of analgesia, which is conducive to the relief of pain.
MERICAN Health Cabin based on red light therapy combines a variety of specific wavelengths of light to produce biological effects on the skin of the whole body, which can improve tissue metabolism and nutritional status, enhance phagocytosis and vascular permeability, and effectively inhibit the expression of pain-related cytokines, which is conducive to the absorption of inflammatory exudates, alleviate the patient’s joint pain, reduce the index of blood uric acid, and promote the improvement of clinical symptoms and joint rehabilitation.
Nowadays, gout has become the “fourth highest” after diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Based on a scientific and healthy lifestyle, supplemented by red light therapy, it may be able to alleviate the uncomfortable symptoms and thus effectively promote the recovery process.
