Caffeine
I do not drink coffee and haven’t for about 25 years. Nor do Iconsume much in the way of caffeinated soft drinks, but for someof us Coke, and stimulant drinks like Red Eye, Red Bull and “V”might be a problem.
If you are trying to analyse your caffeine intake don’t forget to countthese other things as well as coffee.
Sabina Shamel on September 1st, 2007
The literature on caffene and coffee, vis a vis gout, is confusingat best. You are correct about the other sources, and thanks for thatadvise. It wouldn’t help much to stop coffee and drink coke insteadif the goal were to reduce or eliminate caffene.
The chemical structure of caffene is remarkable in that it isessentially uric acid with a few biologically active groups attachedand I found several references, that I do not believe based on howthey stated it and the fact that their references were statements andnot references to experimental data, that claim that caffene isactually broken down into uric acid when it is metabolized. It’sstructire is so close to uric acid that it is possible but if it doesbreak down into uric acie, it does not follow the usual route to uricacid that allopurinol inhibits.
In other words, if caffene is broken down into uric acid, it is doneby a mechanism different than the usual mechanism for uric acidfoamation and it could very well be a secondary source for urate. Mycoffee consumption has been, as I said, 3 to 6 cups a day and thatamounts to 300 to 600 mg, minimum, my cups are big, intake which, ifadded to my normal production, could easily push the balance theother way, i.e. end up in my toe.
All the other issues about adrenal cortex stimulation and long termdesensitization of the kidneys are also valid and would be in effectbut I have not found any difinitive information vis a vis gout andcoffee. The references I can find that say that it is harmful to youif you have gout are terribly undocumented and although they may becorrect they just make the statement and don’t even try to back it up.
Just to be fair to the counter argument, I’ll present it-If you arehaving a gout attack you need more, not less urination, and coffeewill stimulate kidney activity which will remove more urate.
In any event, my rationing starts tomorrow. Only 1/2 a cup early,maybe I’ll eliminate it altogether but only 1/2 cup will bedifficult, and none the rest of the day. No other sources either, tobe sure, (thank you Marg-I might not have thought about that).
Lane Vanruiten on September 2nd, 2007
Three or four years ago I had a nasty attack and went to a pure vegetarian/no purine diet to counter the attack. For the first time, I couldn’t shake the attack, and started hunting the chat rooms and message boards for some help. On one board, maybe this one, there was a discussion about chocolate, which I had been eating of to counteract the fairly light veggie meals. I eliminated it, and caffiene, and my attack swiftly went away. The science may not be clear, but the cause and effect were obvious to me. The other zinger that doesnt tend to be obvious is hard excercise close to bed - Arthur has posted in the past about the breakdown of cells during exercise and my experimentation has told me that hard exercise should be finished several hours before bed, and meat/purines should be avoided that night.
Sabina Shamel on September 3rd, 2007
Wow, didn’t know anyone was reading it. this attack I had lasted andlasted. I had cut out meat, already avoid shrimp most protein, beans,asparagas and my weight isn’t really that bad, 205 when I should be180-185. The pain was coming and going and coming and going, beat itdown with celebrex and then it flairs up again.
Well as of that writing about caffeine, and considering that I wasprobably aggrivating my kidney function with over stimulation of theadrenal cortex, and by the way, uncharacteristic for me, without anydata that I consider solid and based on good data, I gave up mymorning coffee as well as the 2 to 5 extra cups I usually have duringthe day.
Amazing-within 24 hours of giving up the coffee, the pain was almostgone and my toe is back to normal size now for the first time in 3months.
So…whether I can prove it or not, I believe coffee induces attacksin me. And boy, have I been addicited to coffee. Terrible headachesthe first three days. But the gout seems to be in complete remissionand although I am tempted to finish my morning coffee, I stop halfway down and throw out the rest.
Allie Belletto on September 4th, 2007
The question of whether or not coffee (and caffeine in general) affects the beginning or continuation of a gout attack has been on my mind and unanswered since I began my most recent attack and began researching causes, enablers and cures. There is conflicting opinion from reputable sources on caffeine/coffee and its impact on gout. The Arthritis Society Canada indicates that coffee “may contribute to the incidence of gout”. Some medical descriptions of gout also list coffee as a bad thing. However, in some dietetic documents, coffee is listed as being low in purines and hence an allowable food/drink. My logic as to why there is no definitive answer goes like this: On the one hand, coffee/caffeine is a diuretic, and as such may cause increased possibility of excretion of uric acid. On the other hand, coffee is known to have some purines and to definitely increase blood pressure (which goes hand in hand with gout incidence). Some good, some bad. My personal situation is that I stopped drinking coffee until my most recent attack subsided. Once my Allopurinol began to work, I now limit myself to a maximum of two cups a day and most days have only one cup. I drink V8 instead and lots of water.
Sabina Shamel on September 6th, 2007
First of all, I have read all your posts on here over the years and Iappreciate your approach and respect your oppinions highly. I believeyou have made solid observations and recommendations over the yearsand you deal with information clearly and logically.
Allie Belletto on September 8th, 2007
Thanks Walter,Once again, you bring additional detail and clarity to our understanding of these matters. Now that you mention it, I have had those clearly recognizable twinges when I go over a cup or two in a day. I’m becoming convinced that I should just switch completely to V8 as a replacement early morning drink and slosh back the water all day sans coffee.
Sabina Shamel on September 9th, 2007
Does coffee affect your gout, have you thought about it, have youtried to stop coffee.
By the way, if you are addicited to say 6 cans of diet coke a day, orRed Bull, or Mountain Dew, that is also a lot of ceffeine and itcould be just as bad as six cups of coffee a day.
Now that I am sensitive to it-(Again thank you Marg) on a hot daywhile working outside, I might go through a six pack or more, ofmountain dew, or diet coke on top of my 6 cups of coffee a day whichputs my caffeine load at about 2 full grams of caffeine a day.
Let’s hear from some of the rest of you on coffee/caffeine.