John Arts Abundant Living www.johnarts.co.nz

Gout is a nasty, painful form of arthritis that affects thousands of people in New Zealand. It is caused by a build up of uric acid levels in the blood.

This results in the formation of crystals in the joints, most typically in the big toe. Festive season indulgence means this can be for some, the worst time of year. As to the causes, some people blame high purine meats others even blame the high fructose corn syrups used to sweeten soft drinks. I blame a lot more than that – it is a result of consistently eating the wrong kinds of foods that cause or aggravate the problem.

When the crystals form in the joints, our immune system starts a healing response by increasing production of inflammatory prostaglandins. Because the problem is long standing a permanent inflammatory condition can remain. This inflammation is what causes many of the painful symptoms. Interestingly, people with gout often have or develop other inflammatory diseases such as type 2 diabetes and even coronary heart disease.

Fortunately summer is cherry time. Tart cherries have long been the mainstay for natural treatment of gout. The reason is quite simple - cherries have very high amounts of several compounds that can help. These include anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and elagic acid. These compounds exert a powerful effect on restricting Cox 2 enzymes which trigger increases in inflammation. These compounds actually work in a similar way to aspirin and ibuprofen. The best cherries are the tart ones, so select unripe fruit and have a regular intake. You can purchase cherry juice either in a liquid or as a capsulated extract.

When it comes to helpful supplements look for antioxidants that combine anthocyanins normally extracted from bilberries, proanthocyanadins extracted from grape seeds, and bioflavonoids such as quercetin and hesperidin. These are the antioxidants that help your immune system stop producing too many inflammatory chemicals. Stopping this constant supply of inflammation is the most important thing you can do.

There are many things you can do to help gout but make sure you take advantage of the summer cherry season and get in when they are still a little unripe. However a seasonal splurge on cherries may not be enough. You will probably need to adhere to a set programme of diet and supplementation to ensure optimum intake of the most important nutrients.

John Arts is the founder of Abundant Health. For product information
visit www.abundant.co.nz If you have questions or would like a free
health plan you can contact John at john@johnarts.co.nz or phone 07 578
9051 or 0800 423 559. You can join his newsletter at www.johnarts.co.nz
Read more from John at www.sunlive.co.nz