Beer and barbecued crayfish...it turns out to be a "gout meal". How can we spend the summer in the future?

The temperature has been rising recently, and the night market has gradually become more prosperous. The most attractive thing is the open-air barbecue stalls, where you can eat skewers, peel shrimps, drink beer and enjoy the breeze. It is so comfortable.

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But crises often exist when people are not paying attention. The original delicious food may become a "gout package" that harms the body in the future. Speaking of "gout", people who have had it will definitely tremble in their hearts. After all, the pain is really "unforgettable". Once you have had it for the first time, you never want it to happen again.

1. What is gout?

Gout is a disease caused by disorder in the metabolism of purine in the human body, which leads to related symptoms. The oxidative metabolite of purine is what we usually call uric acid. When the concentration of uric acid in the body is too high, it will be deposited in the joints and soft tissues in the form of sodium salt crystals along with the blood, causing an inflammatory reaction in the tissues.

Gout in the foot

Source: Xinhuanet

The first site of gout is often the big toe. When the disease occurs, the joint becomes red, swollen, hot and swollen, and it hurts when touched. In addition to the toes, the Achilles tendon, knees, wrists, and finger joints are also common sites for gout. Acute gout often manifests as severe pain, while chronic gout can also cause joint discomfort or deformity due to inflammation, making people feel uncomfortable all over and affecting their daily lives. What's more, it can also cause high blood pressure, heart disease and other diseases, endangering life safety.

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2. Who is prone to gout?

It is said that "beer and crayfish will bring gout to your home". In addition to people who often consume high-purine foods are prone to gout, who else is at high risk of gout?

The first group of people are men. Among gout patients, the ratio of men to women is about 15:1, which means that men are more susceptible to gout than women. Among them, hormones are an important influencing factor. Estrogen in women's bodies can promote the excretion of uric acid, while androgens in men's bodies will inhibit its excretion, resulting in excessive blood uric acid concentration, accelerating the formation and accumulation of sodium salt crystals, and causing gout.

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In addition, men are more likely to be exposed to alcohol than women, and drinking alcohol can also cause gout. Studies have shown that alcohol produces lactic acid in the human body, and in order to obtain more excretion carriers - urine, it will correspondingly hinder the excretion of uric acid in the kidneys, causing hyperuricemia. Patients with this disease will experience gout symptoms due to the imbalance of uric acid.

Source: pixabay

Another high-risk group may sound incredible to everyone, and they are people who like strenuous exercise. As we all know, exercise is good for health, but excessive and long-term strenuous exercise is not only not good for the body, but can even cause harm to the body. High-intensity exercise often makes people sweat a lot. And when you sweat a lot, your urine will decrease. This causes the uric acid that should be excreted through urine to be unable to be excreted smoothly, and the blood uric acid in the body is in an unbalanced state, which in turn induces the occurrence of gout.

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Obese people and middle-aged and elderly people are also often "cared for" by gout. They may have too much fat in their bodies or be too old, which causes their metabolism to become slow and their uric acid levels to be too high, causing gout.

3. Treatment and prevention of gout

At present, there are many methods for treating gout, which are mainly divided into drug treatment and surgical treatment. For acute gout, taking anti-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory drugs can effectively relieve pain. In addition, local cold compress can help patients with anti-inflammatory and analgesic, and is also an effective auxiliary therapy. For chronic gout, if it develops to the stage of tophi, surgery is required to remove the crystals to achieve the treatment effect.

In normal times, the diet of gout patients should also follow the principle of "three lows and one high", that is, low-purine or purine-free diet, low calorie intake, low-salt diet, and plenty of water. Limit the intake of high-purine foods, eat less high-protein and high-cholesterol foods, limit alcohol consumption, and avoid overeating. Drink water frequently, eat more fruits and vegetables, increase urine volume (daily urine volume should reach more than 2000ml), exercise moderately, and develop good living habits and exercise habits.

Source: Beijing News

As mentioned earlier, many gout patients initially develop gout in the big toe. This is because the big toe is far from the heart, the local blood circulation is relatively poor, and the body temperature is also low, which makes it easy for uric acid to accumulate there. Therefore, gout patients can take more hot baths and soak their feet in hot water to reduce uric acid deposition and improve symptoms by promoting blood circulation.

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If conditions permit, you can also have regular physical examinations to check the concentration of uric acid in your blood. Once it is found to be excessive, you should choose medication or change your eating habits to intervene as appropriate to minimize the chance of gout attacks.