Is it useful for people with gout to eat baking soda?

The treatment of gout certainly needs to be taken seriously, and many people believe that drinking baking soda water can help treat and improve the condition. In fact, this is because soda water is alkaline and helps the excretion of uric acid, but formal treatment is also needed.

1. Some people say that drinking soda water can prevent high uric acid levels, and it is especially suitable for people who eat a lot of seafood or have hyperuricemia or gout. This is because soda water is alkaline, which helps the excretion of uric acid; seafood usually contains more purine, which is metabolized into uric acid in the body. Therefore, drinking soda water helps prevent the increase of uric acid. In addition, modern people like to eat greasy food. Even if they are not afraid of high uric acid, drinking some soda water after eating a lot of purine food is beneficial and harmless.

2. Soda water is actually a diluted sodium bicarbonate solution. Drinking soda water regularly can indeed promote the excretion of uric acid, thereby lowering blood uric acid levels.

3. Gout refers to a disease in which uric acid precipitates and deposits in the joints, kidneys and other parts of the body, causing pain attacks. The main purpose of gout patients using sodium bicarbonate tablets is to alkalize urine, excrete uric acid, prevent the formation of kidney stones, and reduce the damage of urate to kidney function.

4. However, it is incorrect to take sodium bicarbonate tablets as a uric acid-lowering drug for a long time, because any drug has a range of application. Sodium bicarbonate tablets are only suitable for the following situations:

A. Acute arthritis attack

The onset of acute arthritis often marks the peak of blood uric acid, during which time the uric acid level in urine also increases. When acute arthritis occurs, the severe pain in the joints reflexively causes the pituitary gland to accelerate the secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone. Therefore, the acute arthritis period and 5 to 10 days after arthritis are stages when the uric acid concentration in urine is relatively high, and it is very necessary to use sodium bicarbonate tablets during this period.

B. Serum uric acid level increased significantly

When kidney function is normal or not severely damaged, the concentration of uric acid is often positively correlated with the level of blood uric acid and the dosage of drugs that promote uric acid excretion. In other words, the higher the blood uric acid level, the greater the dosage of uric acid excretion-promoting drugs, and the higher the concentration of uric acid in the urine. Therefore, when blood uric acid levels increase and uric acid excretion drugs are used at the same time, the use of sodium bicarbonate tablets is helpful to alkaline the urine, reduce the precipitation of uric acid crystals, and protect the kidneys from damage.