Potassium to Cure Gout

Gout is one of the most painful types of arthritis. I know this for a fact. When you're in the midst of an attack, you feel a stabbing, throbbing pain in your afflicted joint and it's almost impossible to put any pressure on it. A gout attack can be triggered by years of elevated uric acid (UA) condition. Now there are basically three components you may want to look at for curing gout or treating a gout attack: minimizing UA production, maximizing UA excretion and minimizing the pain during an attack. For this article, we will explore the second one and how Potassium (or potassium rich foods) is involved.

The normal range for UA is 3.4 - 7 (based on my last medical results) although I read that you can have gout with as low as 6. In my case, my UA was at 8.26. Being above the range means that not enough UA is being eliminated through the urine than what is being produced. We call this condition hyperuricemia. As a result of this, excess uric acids are crystallized and deposited in various joint spaces, causing the inflammation or gout attack.

If we want to force an equation just to visualize the condition, here's a rough way of looking at it.

If Uric Acid > 6, then

Uric Acid Production - Uric Acid Excretion = Uric Acid Crystals

Potassium's role in this equation is in Uric Acid Excretion. As it happens, uric acid is barely water soluble. Thus although you will read that drinking lots of water helps the condition, it is not enough. To make UA more soluble, the body has to be alkalized and potassium is one of the best counters for UA. Potassium helps by liquefying uric acid crystals so that these can be flushed out through the urine.

That said, gout sufferers should have a diet rich in potassium. The RDA for potassium is 4,200 milligrams. My favorite source is bananas. Each one can have 300 to 451 mg of potassium. That's why you would see some websites recommending eating 6-8 bananas. In the height of a gout attack, other foods high in potassium include: Milk, Prunes, Tomatoes, Vegetables, Potatoes and Berries.

When looking for high potassium foods, try to cross reference it with the high purine list. I wouldn't stock up on those. All meats have high potassium, but some have high purine content as well. For myself though, I choose bananas as my best source since it also has Vitamin C. Remember though that Potassium is a key component, but it's not everything you need to battle gout.

by Christian Parlade

Christian Parlade is a long-time gout sufferer and is consistently doing research on the topic to help himself and others with the same condition. Visit Gout Chronicles at http://goutchronicles.blogspot.com/2009/12/potassium-to-cure-gout.html

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