Could Vitamin C Help Reduce Gout?

Oct. 6, 2022 – Could taking vitamin C assist scale back the probabilities of growing gout? A brand new research sheds mild on this risk. 

Gout is a type of inflammatory arthritis that has been on the rise within the U.S. in latest many years. Considered a way of life illness, some analysis has proven that cases of the situation have greater than doubled lately as charges of weight problems have skyrocketed. It’s brought on by uric acid within the blood that builds up and crystalizes within the joints. Flare-ups are so intense that the joints can flip a cherry crimson and vibrate with intense – and typically seemingly insupportable – ache. 

While there are efficient remedies, many individuals fail to take their drugs after they’re not in ache, and if the situation goes unchecked, it will probably get a lot worse and trigger everlasting injury to the joints. 

“Gout can cause flare-ups that vary in frequency and severity; but sometimes when people aren’t experiencing them, they’re less likely to stay on top of their medications,” says Stephen Juraschek, MD, an assistant professor of drugs at Harvard Medical School. 

That’s why life-style interventions are seen as significantly related to a illness like gout. Vitamin C, for instance, has few unintended effects, and for these with larger ranges of uric acid within the blood, it might scale back the probability of getting the situation. A latest research revealed in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition discovered that individuals who got 500 milligrams of vitamin C versus a placebo had a 12% decreased danger of getting gout. The research of over 14,000 male docs confirmed that males who weren’t chubby had probably the most important discount within the danger of getting the situation. (Excess weight has been proven to extend the danger of gout.)

As a part of the research, members responded to a questionnaire that requested whether or not they had ever been identified with gout. Other research have proven that vitamin C decreased the degrees of urate in individuals with out gout and broke down uric crystals within the blood, however this research took it a step additional to indicate that the complement truly decreased the danger of getting the situation.

“In addition to lowering levels of uric acid in the body, it’s thought that vitamin C may also minimize the inflammatory response to urate crystals,” says Juraschek. That’s as a result of when flare-ups develop in joints all through the physique, a lot of the painful irritation is brought on by the immune system’s response because it fights to interrupt down the crystals. 

Juraschek says this probably wouldn’t change suggestions for sufferers with critical gout, but it surely might nonetheless have an effect. 

“For individuals who were told that they have gout but have had fewer flare-ups, they might be more open to taking vitamin C,” he says.

Will Settle, 42, of Hilton Head, SC, was not concerned within the research, however he says he can be inclined to attempt most any secure preventive technique. Gout runs in his household. His father and grandfather had it, and now, so does he. His flare-ups have slowed lately, which he says has lots to do together with his weight loss program and life-style. He stopped consuming seafood, began consuming extra water, and stopped consuming as a lot alcohol – all of which he thinks has had a huge effect on the severity of his situation. (Both seafood and beer comprise excessive ranges of purines, which have been proven to extend the buildup of uric acid within the blood.) Settle says that different easy life-style adjustments like vitamin C can be a straightforward addition to his routine with few downsides. Plus, he hates having to take colchicine, a medicine that’s meant to alleviate ache however causes him intense diarrhea when he takes it. 

“Anything to reduce my flare-ups without having to take colchicine,” he says.

But the jury remains to be out as as to if vitamin C could have any actual advantages. Study co-author Robert H. Shmerling, MD, is the previous medical chief of the Division of Rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in New York. He says the research reveals that the impact of vitamin C in these undiagnosed with gout was quite modest. Also, vitamin C didn’t present a discount in gout flare-ups in those that have been already identified with the situation. Not to say that the research lacked range, because the individuals in it have been all male and principally white. Still, there’s little draw back danger to taking vitamin C, and it’d find yourself being worthwhile. 

“Maybe it will turn out to be an effective treatment in those who are at high risk, but we’re not there yet,” he says.

Robert Terkeltaub, MD, chief of rheumatology on the Veterans Administration Medical Center in San Diego and a professor of drugs on the University of California, San Diego, says there’s an unmet want with regards to instruments for gout prevention. 

“The disease impacts some 10 million Americans, and we need to better identify these individuals so we can intervene earlier,” he says. 

While vitamin C had a small however important affiliation with fewer new circumstances of gout, it didn’t decrease it in those that already had the illness, says Terkeltaub. What’s extra, researchers didn’t measure the degrees of uric acid within the blood, which might have painted a extra correct image of whether or not vitamin C truly decreased it within the physique. 

“There remains no clarity on the potential role of vitamin C in either prevention or treatment of gout. That said, future research would be of interest,” he says. 

Still, gout sufferers like Settle aren’t ruling it out. Anything to keep away from the ache that, at instances, makes it troublesome for him to get away from bed. He’s seen the profit that straightforward life-style adjustments could make, and he’s keen to attempt absolutely anything to dwell a traditional, arthritis-free life. 

“I’m always looking for simple ways to keep my flare-ups at bay,” he says.