Is Vitamin C Good For Gout?

Vitamin C isn’t just for keeping scurvy at bay! Vitamin C has numerous health benefits that make it one of the most well-known vitamins.

Vitamin C boosts immunity, aids in wound healing and collagen production, helps reduce inflammation, may protect against heart disease, and even supports healthy skin.

So if you’re looking to spruce up your daily routine, Vitamin C is a great place to start.

And don’t worry, it won’t give you orange skin – Vitamin C only affects your inside!

But did you know it’s great for gout?

Vitamin C And Gout

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that can help reduce the levels of uric acid in your blood.

High levels of uric acid are one of the main causes of gout, so Vitamin C could be an important part of your gout prevention regime.

Uric acid is produced when purines (a type of protein) in your body break down. Vitamin C helps keep these levels low, which helps reduce the risk of gout flare-ups.

Normally your kidneys flush out excess uric acid but sometimes they struggle to keep up if you indulge in a high purine diet.

A high purine diet consists of foods such as organ meats, anchovies, mackerel, herring and other types of seafood. Alcohol and sugary drinks can also cause uric acid levels to spike.

Vitamin C helps to counteract the effects of these foods and drinks, helping your kidneys cope better with purine breakdowns.

Foods rich in Vitamin C include citrus fruits, berries, leafy greens and vegetables such as red peppers, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. Vitamin C can also be found in fortified foods like breakfast cereals.

Citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and limes are particularly rich in Vitamin C.

Berries such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are a great source of Vitamin C.

These small fruits have high concentrations of Vitamin C and other important antioxidants which can help reduce gout pain and improve your overall health.

The Vitamin C found in leafy greens is more easily absorbed by the body than other plants, so make sure you include them in your diet if you want to reduce gout pain.

A veggies such as red peppers, tomatoes and sweet potatoes are all Vitamin C powerhouses. Red peppers contain twice as much Vitamin C as oranges!

Vitamin C helps gout sufferers in more ways than one. Vitamin C can help reduce inflammation, which helps to ease pain and swelling associated with gout attacks.

It does this by neutralizing the free radicals that cause inflammation. These free radicals called reactive oxygen species (ROS) can lead to joint damage and worsen gout symptoms.

Vitamin C helps to neutralize these free radicals, reducing inflammation and improving your overall health.

It can reduce your uric acid levels by helping your kidneys flush out excess purines. It does this by improving the kidneys’ efficiency in filtering out waste.

Vitamin C also helps boost the antioxidant power of other vitamins, like Vitamin E and Vitamin A, which helps reduce inflammation that may contribute to gout pain.

Vitamin C Gout Trials

In a 2009 study by the Boston University School of Medicine, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, evidence showed that the more vitamin C men took, the less likely they were to get gout.

Over the 20 years that researchers studied nearly 47,000 men, 1,317 of them developed gout. For every 500-milligram increase in vitamin C intake, the risk for gout fell by 17%. The risk dropped by 45% when study participants took more than 1,500 mg of vitamin C a day.

Another study conducted by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition also concluded Vitamin C intake was linked to a lower risk of gout flares. The study found that Vitamin C reduced flare-up risk by 40%.

Conclusion

If you suffer from gout or want to keep it at bay, make sure Vitamin C is part of your gout diet.

Vitamin C can help keep your uric acid levels low, reduce inflammation and boost the antioxidant power of other vitamins.

It is always best to get your Vitamin C through food, but Vitamin C supplements can help if you struggle to get enough Vitamin C through your diet.

Always consult your doctor before taking supplements, especially if you’re on medication.