You can use natural remedies to manage gout attacks, and turmeric is one of the best for this role. Yes, that bright yellow powder is great for more than just spicing your food.
Turmeric contains powerful medicinal compounds (mainly curcumin) that possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and anticancer properties. These medicinal attributes make it an excellent natural remedy for people struggling with gout.
But how does gout happen? Where does it affect? How can turmeric help with gout attacks? Let us find out everything in a few minutes.
How Exactly Does Gout Occur?
Gout, a type of inflammatory arthritis, occurs when the body manufactures too much uric acid. It causes a burning sensation, soreness, tenderness, or redness around the affected joint. Gout commonly affects the big toe.
The body produces uric acid in two ways. It can be made naturally or produced when the body breaks down purines, substances present in most foods such as red meat, seafood, and alcohol.
The kidney normally gets rid of uric acid. But if it fails to properly and efficiently flush out this uric acid, it accumulates as well as forms crystals in the joints. The uric acid crystals, aka monosodium urate, may lead to gout attacks.
How Turmeric Helps With Gout Attacks
It Can Reduce Uric Acid Levels
The increased amount of uric acid in the blood is the main cause of gout. Turmeric can reduce blood urate levels and increase uric acid excretion when you urinate. This can be accelerated by taking enough water throughout the day.
Turmeric ensures this by regulating the activity of certain proteins linked to transportation of uric acid. Plus, it inhibits particular biochemical pathways, improving kidney function.
Anti-Inflammatory Properties
Gout attacks happen with inflammation in the affected joints.
Curcumin, the most potent ingredient in turmeric, is responsible for its powerful anti-inflammatory abilities. It is known to eradicate swelling and pain in gout.
Clinical trials have confirmed that curcumin’s anti-inflammatory capabilities can inhibit molecules such as cytokines, enzymes, and transcription factors contributing to inflammation.
For example, curcumin can block nuclear factor-kappa B protein (NF-kappa B) responsible for inflammatory conditions inclusive of gout. People suffering from gout felt relieved after taking a purified curcumin extract.
In fact, curcumin is more effective than commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin, diclofenac, and ibuprofen.
Antioxidant Properties
Antioxidants protect cells from free radicals that cause damage. Oxidative stress occurs when the body has an imbalance of antioxidants and free radicals. This leads to inflammation.
Turmeric might help manage gout inflammation by lowering oxidative stress. These antioxidant properties come from curcumin, flavonoids, polyphenols, ascorbic acid, and other compounds found in turmeric.
It Can Relief Pain
Joint inflammation comes along with severe and debilitating pain, which can affect the daily activities of the patients. The best part of turmeric’s pain-relieving properties is that it acts quickly, is more effective than conventional painkillers like aspirin, and has no side effects.
A 2018 BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine study claims that curcumin lowered joint pain and morning stiffness and improved physical function in people with osteoarthritis. These benefits might also manage other kinds of arthritis, such as gout though more research is needed.
It Can Improve Metabolic Health
Curcumin is excellent for metabolic health in several ways, such as:
- Reducing weight loss
- Reducing cholesterol levels
- Lowering blood pressure
- Protecting the heart, and
- Reducing symptoms of metabolic syndrome
Keeping metabolism at optimal functioning is critical in regulating gout. It is because these factors can contribute to high levels of uric acid. Thus, managing them can significantly prevent gout attacks.
For instance, being obese or overweight increases the risk of having high uric acid levels, which raises the chances of experiencing a gout attack. Turmeric combined with a healthy diet and exercise regimen, can help you lose weight.
How Should You Use Turmeric To Treat Gout?
There are a number of ways you can use turmeric for gout. You can:
- Add it to your drinks or food
- Use turmeric topicals (cream or ointment applied on affected areas), or
- Use turmeric supplements in form of capsules, gummies, extracts, or drink powders.
Not all forms of turmeric are created equal…
Most of the turmeric supplements you see in stores come in the form of encapsulated powders. The truth is with turmeric powder you may be getting very little actual benefit.
Turmeric powder has a fairly low bioavailability (meaning that a good portion of it isn’t properly absorbed by your body), it often isn’t very fresh, and it’s sometimes made with harsh processes that can destroy or degrade turmeric’s healthful components.
Because turmeric is hard to absorb, it must be formulated in a certain way allowing the body to absorb and utilize its entire spectrum of nutrients.
So if you want to see actual benefit from turmeric, you need to be sure you are taking a highly bioavailable one.
The very best form of Turmeric on the market is PuraTHRIVE Organic Curcumin GOLD. It is an outstanding full-spectrum extract that’s “liposomalized”—meaning it’s specifically blended to make the turmeric bind to phosphlipids (fats) that increase its bioavailability 10 to 20 times.
Check it out today: PuraTHRIVE Organic Curcumin GOLD
NaturWarriors 