Alcohol and uric acid excretion

[George Talbot]

Newly diagnosed with quite mild symptoms. I had a high uric acid count so I have cut drinking down alot and removed animal products from my diet which seems to be doing the trick for now.

I was just over 7mg/dl, but I hadn’t fasted etc for the blood test. The flare was in the correct point of the big toe and there was redness so fairly sure this wasn’t a misdiagnosis, however no joint fluid was taken.

I’m 31 and I do enjoy drinking with friends, I have done lots of research into uric acid levels and food / alcohol. From what I gather a pint of beer creates around 50mg of uric acid. Other alcohols such as wine and spirits create 0mg.

However the issue is that ethanol inhibits uric acid excretion.. causing gout attacks especially if you are then eating high purine foods at the same time / after you drink.

There seems to be a lack of research into how long ethanol affects your kidneys and inhibits uric acid excretion. I wondered if anybody here knows how long it takes, after drinking alcohol, that your body starts to excrete uric acid at a normal rate (as normal as someone who is gouty can be! Haha)

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How Does Alcohol Change Uric Acid Excretion? (click for image details)

[nobody]

Hi!
I don’t consume alcohol and don’t know how long the effect lasts, sorry.
I wouldn’t assume that you can solve your problem by quitting alcohol and improving your diet anyway. Symptoms are a poor guide to what’s happening to your uric acid, except over many months (if not years). I would certainly encourage you to quit alcohol, but not by misleading you so I want you to know drugs work much better to control uric acid and more importantly to prevent future gout symptoms at this delicate stage of the evolution of the disease.
Animal products in general aren’t the problem by the way. Small cells are (at least as far as purines in general are concerned but you should understand there are additional concerns with animal flesh) so while you certainly want to avoid animal flesh, you should also avoid some non-animal foods as well. Milk is fine however, as are eggs and some other animal products. Vegans have been known to have uric acid issues (though this is by no means unavoidable). Again, drugs work so much better than tweaking one’s diet that I don’t think it’s worth wasting your time with the details unless you know you can’t tolerate the best drugs (and even then, you should make sure you haven’t been misled in this regard by incompetent doctors, as I was for too many years).

[James Park]

I thought i drank alot too, but when i talked to my RA doctor, she said, that’s not alot. I used to drink about 1/2 bottle whiskey, Friday/saturday. once a week.

I lifted weights all my life, since 18. Anyway, i was 40, worked out 4-5x week, did yoga, ate healthy, was in great shape. 210lb (6’3). but my body was making urate crystals. Then one day my ankle started hurting, went to osteo to get ankle reconstruction. couldn’t walk for 6month. gained weight. then gout attack constantly for a year. I can barely walk now. Now 48, realizing it was all gout, taking med and see’ing my RA doctor regularly.

Moral of the story, you could be in great shape, but your body is warning you. Go see RA doctor and make sure you take care of uric acid problem. You dont want your body to start making crystals in the muscles. I had all the signs but since I was noob to Gout, didn’t realize i should’ve took steps earlier on. My RA said, if I had came 10 years sooner, I might not need a ankle reconstruction surgery.

[Keith Taylor]

Hi George,

I’m intrigued why you ask:

There seems to be a lack of research into how long ethanol affects your kidneys and inhibits uric acid excretion. I wondered if anybody here knows how long it takes, after drinking alcohol, that your body starts to excrete uric acid at a normal rate (as normal as someone who is gouty can be! Haha)

Because I can understand why people want to know, for example, how long after drinking does your blood alcohol level return to normal. But I can’t understand what you would do with the information you are seeking. I.e., how will knowing that fact, or a reasonable estimate of, change how you manage your gout?

[Author]

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