Gout Pal Interactive

Alcohol is not a major cause, but often a strong contributory factor.

I cannot offer qualified medical advice, but I can comment on how I live with gout, and what is important to me.

Scientists and doctors will offer conflicting advice on whether a glass of wine a day is good for you. Commonsense tells me that if all you consume is red wine, it cannot be good for you.

My personal belief is that a glass of red wine is probably the best choice if you want to take alcohol. Personal responsibility is vital, and if you overdo red wine drinking, beer drinking or even coffee drinking, then you run the risk of worsening your health.

It would be a miserable life if you avoid everything that someone says is bad for you.

The simplest advice for gout is “everything in moderation”.

I cannot find much nutritional information about cognac, but I imagine it has pH values similar to Whiskey which is listed in my beverages pH table.

Alcohol in general, and spirits in particular are rarely good for gout. Alcohol can impair kidney function, which may cause uric acid to rise. It also has a diuretic effect, which can increase the risk of gout attacks if not balanced by sufficient volume of non-alcoholic fluids.

pH balancing is all about building a healthy diet around a good mix of acid and alkaline foods, with an overall alkaline total. Alcohol should not be so large a part of your diet as to have any significant effect on pH balance.

If you must take alcohol, then red wine is generally felt to be the “healthiest”, but this is mainly due to it’s antioxidant content, not pH.

I have found one study of cognac and antioxidants. It reports:

Highest TAS values were given by armagnac, cognac, and bourbon whiskey, all three of which tended toward the highest concentrations of phenols. Negative TAS values were exhibited by rum, vodka, gin, and miscellaneous spirits in line with the low or undetectable phenol concentrations in these beverages. Wood aging is the most likely source of phenols and furans in distilled spirits. Those beverages exposed to this treatment contain significant antioxidant activity, which is between the ranges for white and red wines

As with most things to do with gout, it is best to see what works for you.

Not sure what you mean by

How is it that when yoyu drink more it becomes acidic.

Lowering pH does not necessarily lower uric acid. There is some evidence to show that uric acid is slightly more soluble in alkaline solutions, so I aim to alkalize to help reduce uric acid. It probably does not make much difference, but since an alkalizing diet is generally reckoned to be healthy, it shouldn’t do any harm.

This is a tricky one - it’s really a question for your doctor, who has access to all your medical records, and who can arrange tests if necessary.

The main thing to find out is why you have gout. Again, it is for a doctor (preferably a rheumatologist who works regularly with gout patients).

For most sufferers, it is often caused by bad diet and being overweight. The best thing to do is to study the pages on GoutPal.com that deal with food and diet, starting with Gout Food Facts. If you have any questions about that information, come back to the gout forums and ask.

With good eating habits, alcohol in moderation should not be a major problem.

Despite the discussion in this thread, there is little difference between different types of alcohol. Neat spirit should be avoided due to effects on kidneys and dehydration. Some people find that beer aggravates their gout, whilst others (myself included) see no real difference between wine or beer.

It is important to avoid the dehydration associated with alcohol - drink plenty of water (or milk, fruit juice etc) before and after drinking alcohol.

Going back to the reasons for gout, if yours is caused by kidney problems, then alcohol is best avoided. The medical facts are really beyond me, but your doctor should be able to advise you.

It is part of the human condition that we try to associate different events, and look for relationships between things.

This can be a good thing if we correctly establish a cause and effect.

Unfortunately, we are often too quick to judge, and what happens to be a coincidence, soon becomes a reality.

With food and gout, it is often a combination of things, together with other factors, that trigger agout attack. The factors include temparature, time of day, amount of exericse and levels of hydration.

Another unknown is the concentration of uric acid. Uric acid behaves differently in the body at different concentrations. For example, if it is raised, we lose more in sweat and urine than when it is low.

Most importantly of all, without careful measurement and analysis, we are often unsure wether a gout attack is due to new crystals forming, or old ones dissolving.

It's enough to turn you to drink.