- If you have gout, by all means
take the medication that your doctor prescribes. But in addition, you might want to try
some natural approaches to relieving this painful ailment.
-
- FOODS
- Celery (Apium graveolens).
Learning that celery extracts might help eliminate uric acid, I began taking two to four
tablets of celery seed extracts daily instead of allopurinol. As I write, six months have
gone by without a single gout crisis. For one week, I ate four celery stalks a day in lieu
of the extracts. These self-dosing anecdotal results lead me to believe the advertisement
that led me to the celery seed. A skeptic then, I'm a believer now: Celery seed (or
serendipity) has kept my uric acid below critical levels.
Avocado (Persea
americana). My botanical friends in the Amazon believe that avocado is
useful for treating gout. It reportedly lowers uric acid levels in the blood. There's no
scientific evidence that I'm aware of to support this assertion, but I have a lot of
respect for the herbal wisdom of the Amazonian people, and avocados are certainly tasty.
So here's a good reason to add an occasional avocado to your diet. Just don't go
overboard, though, as avocados are high in calories.
Cherry (Prunus,
various species). Many people claim to stave off gout attacks by eating eight
ounces a day of canned or fresh cherries. I have one friend, for instance, who claims to
have great luck in staving off gout when he eats black cherries. This therapy has never
been scientifically demonstrated to work, but since so many people swear by it, I think
it's probably worth trying. (One caveat, though: Buying this many cherries might be even
more expensive than my allopurinol.) Other people favor strawberries. I'm going to give my
Cherry Cocktail a try. It's a mixture of cherry, pineapple, strawberry and blueberry
juices spiced up with a little bit of licorice and a lot of ginger and turmeric.
Pineapple (Ananas
comosus). Pineapple contains bromelain, an enzyme that helps break down protein.
Naturopathic physicians often recommend pure bromelain, which can be purchased at health food stores,
to reduce inflammation and swelling. Bromelain clearly works if you inject it into swollen
tissue, but the effectiveness of the ingested enzyme has been controversial. It's probably
worth trying, however. My preferred way to get bromelain is in an occasional glass of pineapple juice.
- SUPPLEMENTS
- Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra). Like chiso, licorice
contains several XO inhibitors, but at fairly low levels. Still, a cat's claw-licorice
combo could be interesting, and the two herbs might even work better
together.
Turmeric (Curcuma
longa). One compound in turmeric (curcumin) inhibits the
synthesis of substances called prostaglandins in the body that are involved in pain. The
mechanism is similar to the one involved in the pain-relieving action of aspirin and
ibuprofen, only weaker. Still, at high doses, curcumin stimulates the adrenal glands to
release the body's own cortisone, a potent reliever of inflammation and the pain it often
causes. East Indians revere turmeric and use it liberally in curries. That's a
particularly nice way to take your medicine, if you ask me. You can also make a tea using
turmeric or simply take it in capsules.
Cat's claw (Uncaria, various species).
Once while I was on the Amazon, an attack of gout caught me without the prescription
medication I usually take to alleviate the inflammation during a crisis. But I had some
pills containing cat's claw (uña de gato), an herb with
anti-inflammatory effects. I took two pills. No relief. I tried four. Nothing. Then, at
six, I began to notice some effect, but it took nearly a dozen to do as much as the drug.
While I'm certainly not discarding my prescription medications in favor of cat's claw, in an emergency I'd use the herb again. There
are more than 30 brands of cat's claw on sale in health food stores
and herb shops in the United States, and there's only one report in the scientific
literature of an adverse reaction ever developing in anyone using the herb.
Devil's claw (Harpagophytum procumbens).
Several reports indicate that this herb lowers uric acid levels and has anti-inflammatory
action, both of which would be useful for treating gout. Other studies suggest that it may
be useful for relieving arthritic conditions, and gout is a form of arthritis.
Unfortunately, studies rely on injections of an herbal extract of devil's claw, and an
injection goes right into the bloodstream without passing through the stomach. This herb
loses potency in the stomach, so I can't guess how effective (or ineffective) it might be
in a tea or capsule. I think it's worth trying, however.
Olive
(Olea europea). Olive has a reputation as a diuretic dating back to
biblical times. In 1993, a Japanese researcher showed that about four cups of olive leaf tea a day for three
weeks increased daily urine output by 10 to 15 percent, lowering uric acid levels in the
blood and increasing uric acid in the urine. I would not hesitate to try this one myself.
Stinging
nettle (Urtica dioica). One scientific study showed that stinging
nettle increases uric acid secretion, at least in ducks. These experimental animals
exhibited lower blood levels of uric acid after they were given stinging
nettle extract. The next time I have pain in my big toe, I intend to include stinging nettle tea in my own
treatment program.
