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WE USED to think that high uric acid levels in the bloodstream pinpointed only towards inflammatory conditions particularly of the joints (gout). Recent development in clinical research uncovered a very clear effect of hyperuricemia in developing Type-2 diabetes mellitus. A team of 12 Chinese researchers, mostly from the Department of Nephrology at the Union Hospital in Wuhan, China, conducted a meta-analysis of existing literature in the association between blood uric acid and Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is an adult-onset diabetes resulting primarily from the development of insulin resistance or relative insulin-deficiency which results to persistently increased level of sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream. The body can still manufacture insulin but resistance to it has developed so that the body still cannot breakdown free glucose. Overall all, it makes up around 90 percent of cases of diabetes. Long-term complications include... [ READ MORE ] This article appears in

One wonderful thing about nature is the balance between disease-causing and disease-preventing forces that can be easily recognized. And that is true about handling your case.   YOU can protect yourself from the “disease of kings” by eating foods for the “kings” (don't mind my play of words).Much of gout can be minimized through selectively eating foods that provide no new raw material for the production of uric acids.   First, let us cover what foodstuff to avoid. By plugging the dietary sources, you can somehow exert control on uric acid output. Here are foods with very high purine content (up to 1000 mg per 100 grams): anchovy, brain, gravy, kidney, liver, sardines and sweetbreads (thymus and pancreas).   Foods with moderately high purine levels (5-100 mg) include asparagus, bacon, beef, bluefish, calf tongue, carp, cauliflower, chicken, codfish, crab, duck, goose, halibut, ham, beans, lamb, lentils, lobster, mushrooms, oatmeal, oysters, peas, pork, sheep, shellfi

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