Shoshin-Zazen

Never thought that gout would hit people at a young age. Yet this kind of optimistic mentaility seems to be ubiquitious everywhere: you never fear something until its hits you - hard.

I had a friend who had a brush with gout a few weeks ago and he described it as excruciating pain in his ankles. My friend told me she only saw old, elderly people getting gout but never young and fit men in their twenties. Out of curiousity, I went unto the net to do some “shelock holmes” and this was what I found.

Gout is a disease created by a buildup of uric acid in the blood and this leads to uric crystals accumulating in the joints and causing very bad pain. It is also a common ailment often asssociated with diabetes and hypertension but it might be hereditary. It is also often caused by a high intake of protein diet which leads to a elevation of uric acid in the body.  There a few main propensities for gout to occur:

1. Hereditary
2. Defects in the kidney to process the uric acid
3. Diet (Gout is more prevalent in affluent societies)
4. Malfunctioning metabolic systems

Apparently, new research(1) has found that sugary drinks also increase the risk of gout.

The risk of gout increased with increasing intake of sugar sweetened soft drinks. The risk was significantly increased with an intake level of 5-6 servings per week and the risk was 85% higher among men who consumed two or more servings of sugar-sweetened soft drinks per day compared to those who consumed less than one serving per month.

It is no wonder that gout is on an increase now, as reported in the United States and other developed countries. We should expect that these “rich man” sicknesses to emerge. Man will just have to live and cope with it, with appropriate changes to their lifestyle and diet.

(1) BMJ-British Medical Journal (2008, February 1). Sugary Soft Drinks Linked To Increased Risk Of Gout In Men. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 18, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/01/080131214539.htm

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