What Causes Gout?

When you were younger you could pretty much eat anything you wanted without effect.

Now your doctor has you on a low meat diet, has you watching your alcohol intake, and special medications to prevent and treat gout outbreaks.

Not to mention the pain killer medication for when things really get bad.

Most likely you're wondering how your body got to this state. What has changed from when you were younger until now?

Discerning Factors Behind the Causes of Gout

1. Gout mostly effects men (lower estrogen), save post-menopausal women (also lower estrogen).

2. Gout usually becomes a problem the older a man gets (metabolic imbalances are compounded over time).

Can you think of the main difference between men and younger women? That's right... estrogen. Low estrogen is what causes gout.

Estrogen Protects Against Gout

To understand why estrogen protects against gout you have to understand its effect on the production of uric acid.

- First of all... high uric acid is the primary gout cause.

- The development of gout starts with the consumption of meat and alcohol (rich in purines).

- These purines get broken down to uric acid by an enzyme called Xanthine Oxidase.

- Higher levels of Xanthine Oxidase produce more uric acid.

- The Xanthine Oxidase enzyme's limiting co-factor is the mineral molybdenum.

- Molybdenum's main antagonist in the body is copper.

- Estrogen increases copper levels.

To Summarize...

Estrogen increases copper, thus lowering molybdenum levels, creating less Xanthine Oxidase enzymes, therefore decreasing uric acid levels, making you less susceptible to gout!

Treating Gout

So how do we create less Xanthine Oxidase?

First of all... Do not supplement with molybdenum. This supplement is hard to find anyways so it shouldn't be a problem.

Second... Supplement with copper (the main molybdenum antagonist) at 3 mg per day until symptoms subside!

Third... Limit copper antagonist supplements in your diet.

Copper Antagonists

- Zinc

- Vitamin C

- Manganese

- Iron

- Sulfur (MSM)

- Vitamin B6

Copper has Same Mechanism as Allopurinol

Allopurinol does the same thing as copper (limits xanthine oxidase activity) but with a host more side effects and much more expensive price tag. Why not treat the cause of gout (excess molybdenum) rather than with a drug bandaid!