When Gout Is Not About Uric Acid

Gout has become synonymous with high uric acid in our blood, but a study just published in the Journal of Inflammation Research shows that this should absolutely not be the case.

In fact, other factors are much more decisive for diagnosing and treating gout. And when you focus on these factors, the healing process is quick and easy.

This Chinese study, performed at The First People’s Hospital of Hefei, Binhu Hospital of Hefei, and The Third Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, was motivated by the discovery that many cases of gout are misdiagnosed due to the difficult diagnosis process.

The gold standard for diagnosing gout is to take synovial fluid from between your joints and to test it for monosodium urate crystals. These crystals are always present in cases of gout.

However, the process of obtaining these samples is difficult and painful for the patient.

Various types of scans can also be used, but these are expensive to perform for a disease that actually seems to be more common in some Pacific and Asian countries than in the wealthy countries that can afford this testing.

For these reasons, these researchers decided to investigate whether a high uric acid level in the blood, along with some pro-inflammatory chemicals, could distinguish gout cases from non-cases, as these tests would be cheaper and easier while still accurate.

High uric acid alone is not a good test, as many people with high uric acid blood scores don’t have gout.

The researchers recruited 94 gout patients from the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. They also enrolled 58 people without gout who matched these participants on age and sex for a comparison.

They took blood samples from participants in the morning and tested them for uric acid and the three pro-inflammatory chemicals C-reactive protein, IL-6, and TNF-alpha.

They then compared the gout patients with the healthy subjects, making the following observations:

1. Uric acid was higher in the gout patients than in the healthy controls.

2. The pro-inflammatory chemicals were higher in the gout patients than in the healthy controls.

3. High uric acid alone displayed a diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of 85%, meaning that it could correctly diagnose 85% of real gout cases (sensitivity) while correctly ruling out 85% percent of people without gout (specificity).

4. C-reactive protein alone was 51% sensitive and 92% specific, while IL-6 alone was 49% sensitive and 84% specific and TNF-α alone was 100% sensitive and 92% specific.

5. High uric acid and these pro-inflammatory chemicals combined showed a 99 percent% and specificity, meaning that it could correctly identify 99% of gout patients while correctly ruling out 99% of people without gout.

This means that uric acid and pro-inflammatory chemicals together are a good way to distinguish gout patients from non-sufferers.

Even more importantly, this shows that the old way of thinking, with an excessive focus on uric acid, is wrong when it comes to gout. That’s why focusing on just cutting out foods high in uric acid is ineffective.

For years, I have been teaching people to heal their gout using a completely different approach. Thousands of readers have already totally rid themselves of gout with the simple, natural steps explained here…