The Rich Man's Disease

Many times wealth brings not only abundance in food and material things. It also brings lifestyle related diseases. And one of these is gout.

HISTORICALLY, rich man's disease was attributed to kings as well. Thus, its other name being “the disease of kings,” according to Wikipedia.

Maybe a look at the lifestyle of rich men and kings in history will answer the question, “why.” This lifestyle obviously has better access risk factors for gout—excessive quantities of wine (expensive kinds albeit); excessive protein-rich food (meat, fish, nuts, legumes, and purine-rich vegetables).

Unsurprisingly, gout is a metabolic disease; an offshoot of lifestyle excesses in younger years. It appears as acute or chronic arthritis (joint inflammation) with deposits of monosodium urate crystals in joints, bones, soft tissues, and kidneys. The latter can develop stones.

If a Cebuano says, “Taas akong uric” (My uric acid level is high), that does not mean gout had set in. Gout practically occurs when symptoms appear. When that happens, urate crystal deposits already exist. High uric acid level in urine (hyperuricemia), however, is an indicator, hinting us we have “progressed” to the danger zone.

High uric acid levels usually appear some 20 years... [READ MORE]

This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 26 September 2012.

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