Gout Pal Interactive

The advice that most family practitioners give gout patients is much like it was 25 years ago.    However, there is a lot of research that has been done which could help gout sufferers with their gout and goutcare.   The gout-related websites fill the gap some but really we need someone, skilled in medicine, to update the advice that most practitioners give their patients.  We need the medical establish to update the guidance they give based on the latest research.   Most practitioners follow the mainstream medical journals.   If we could get some answers and find some new advice on better ways to deal with gout (and maybe other arthridies) and then get it published in those journals, we could improve the care of gout-sufferers, inconceivably.  I suggest a webpage where people could put what they would like to ask organizations like the American Medical Association.

I can think of some questions that I would like evaluated based on research done in the last twenty five years?

(1) In following a diet, what attention should be paid to iron-rich foods?   Should we be including foods that inhibit iron absorption?

(2) Is there an advantage to reducing the iron levels in our bodies in avoiding gout attacks and in lowering inflammation by regular blood donations?

(3) In our diets, should we including more L-Argenine rich foods since L-Argenine has been shown to help with hyperuricemia?

(4) Since obstructive sleep apnea has been shown to contribute to the development of gout, shouldn't medical practitioners be counselled to screen for it more closely?

(5) When blood tests show high uric acid levels, shouldn't practitioners counsel the patient to increase his/her water consumption?    In other words, treat the higher uric acid levels as a sign of underconsumption of water.  

Frankly, I consider this some very legitimate questions.  If the other gout-related websites did the same, maybe we could get some answers.