Bugged By Gout

by KeithTaylor Comment Closed
Xanthine oxidase reduction by quercetin fascinates me. Can tea, onions, apples and other foods hold the secret for natural gout cures? Lots of scientists are looking, but extracting the active ingredients is hard. This is really bugging me! But, could bugs be the answer? Quercetin is a member of the flavonoid group of compounds. These compounds occur naturally in plants, and have been shown to have properties that are beneficial to health. Quercetin has been studied in several recent investigations to assess it's ability to inhibit xanthine oxidase (XO). Both allopurinol and febuxostat work by XO inhibition. Unfortunately, the quercetin studies are largely confined to laboratory experiments with occasional animal tests. Animal tests so far have not shown success, and this appears to be down to solubility of quercetin. Just as I thought I had finished reviewing relevant research, I spotted a mention of quercetin buried deep in a study of large cabbage white caterpillars. So deep, that I cannot assess if quercetin is actually...
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New Gout Treatment Goes To Trial

by KeithTaylor Comment Closed
US biotech firm BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc recently announced the initiation of a Phase 2 human clinical trial of the drug candidate BCX4208 in patients suffering from gout. BCX4208, co-developed by New Zealand crown research institute IRL, is a next generation purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) inhibitor, which a recent study shows may have utility in diseases dependent on T-cells, B-cells or uric acid. The latest trial is designed to determine the effect of different doses of orally administered BCX4208 on uric acid levels in the blood, the build-up of which can lead to the often painful condition known as gout. BCX4208 differs from existing gout treatments in that it targets an enzyme known as PNP (purine nucleoside phosphorylase). This novel mechanism gives the drug candidate the potential to address unmet medical needs across a broad spectrum of inflammatory diseases in which this enzyme plays a role. It has the potential for once-a day dosing suitable for chronic administration and has been shown...
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Gout Doctor Required

by KeithTaylor Comment Closed
Do you know a good gout doctor? It could be a gout specialist, e.g. a rheumatologist, or it could be your local MD who has given you great gout treatment. Prompted by a tidying up of old forum discussions, I notice that there are occasional calls for recommendations for a doctor with good gout knowledge. Rarely are these answered, but some of that may be due to the way topics that ask that question are scattered over many forums. I've decided to try and build a list of recommended gout doctors, and I can only do it with your help. If your doctor is particularly good with gout, please pass on their details, but first contact them to check this is OK. I will start a new list organized by country and region with the details. Similarly, if you are looking for a gout specialist, please say which area you are prepared to travel to. To kick things off, the old message that I have...
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Professional Gout Advice

by KeithTaylor Comment Closed
I am often asked for professional gout advice, yet I have no medical qualifications. I usually offer as much help as I can, then qualify my remarks by advising the gout sufferer to seek medical attention. But what should I do when your doctor's advice is advice is clearly wrong? I know what the leading medical authorities suggest as the best way to manage gout because I research it every day. I know what typical gout sufferers need to endure, because I am one. I know when a doctor is giving bad advice. The first comment here is transferred from a separate discussion because it is extremely important. Yes, it refers to allopurinol, but it raises a much larger issue. The writer is clearly unsure about the professional advice given. In this case the advice is clearly wrong. But what should you do when you do not trust medical advice from professionals, and what should I do to give advice that you know you...
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What Next For GoutPal.com?

by KeithTaylor Comment Closed
I am constantly on the lookout for new information to add to GoutPal.com. I also like to improve the way the information is presented wherever I can to make it easier for you to find the gout information that you need. I have recently started to add discussion topics here to talk about issues raised by specific pages. This page is for discussing topics that are missing from GoutPal.com, or for suggesting improvements to layouts and features. As new suggestions are made here, I will add them to the GoutPal Improvement Poll, and you can vote for the improvements that are important to you. Each improvement is presented as an answer, and you simply vote up those that you want to see. Very rarely, you may see an improvement that you really think is a bad idea. You can vote this down, but it would be nice if you could also add a comment here to say why you think it is a...
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What Next For GoutPal Interactive?

by KeithTaylor Comment Closed
As discussed in the forum recently, I am upgrading this website, and giving the look & feel a makeover to make it easier to read, and to unite, where possible, different parts. There will be separate sections to air your views, share your experiences, ask gouty questions and generally interact with fellow gouties so that we can all learn and understand more. I've also had a heads-up on surveys, so I'll start a new section on this just as soon as you tell me it is important to you. As new suggestions are made here, I will add them to the GoutPal Interactive Improvement Poll, and you can vote for the improvements that are important to you. Each improvement is presented as an answer, and you simply vote up those that you want to see. Very rarely, you may see an improvement that you really think is a bad idea. You can vote this down, but it would be nice if you could...
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Protein Rich Foods & Gout Debate

by KeithTaylor Comment Closed
I'm currently investigating guidelines for protein rich food and gout. 'Official' advice seems, at best, vague, and at worst, confusing. At this stage, I feel we may well have to develop our own guidelines in order to have meaningful guidance on how to approach protein in our gout diet management. I am continuing my investigation into gout and protein, and I plan to add more articles shortly. However, it is important to me to look at what advice gout patients get from their medical and nutritional advisors. Please can you help here, and share the advice you have been given. It would be useful to know which country you are in, and if possible the qualifications of the person who gave you the gout diet advice. Please can we restrict this to dietary advice, especially where it relates to proteins. If your information is not diet related, I am still interested to learn about it, but it would be better if you found a more...
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