Gout: How probiotics can help alleviate flare-ups

Islamabad, April 9 (Online): More than 41 million people worldwide have gout — a chronic arthritic condition causing pain, stiffness, and swelling of the joints.

There is currently no cure for gout. Doctors treatTrusted Source people with gout with medications to help prevent attacks as well as treat symptoms of flare-ups.

Now researchers from Complutense University of Madrid in Spain say they have found a probioticTrusted Source strain that helps lower the number of gout episodes a person has and may reduce the need for gout-related drugs.

Additionally, they say the probiotic improved certain blood parameters in study participants related to oxidative stressTrusted Source, liver damage, and metabolic syndromeTrusted Source.

The study was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.
Gout occurs when a person has too much uric acid in their body. This is called hyperuricemia.

In addition to gout, hyperuricemia can also cause kidney stones.

Uric acid build-up can sometimes occur if a person eats a diet high in purine. Foods and beverages high in purine include: alcoholic beverages, certain types of fish, such as sardines some meats, including bacon organ meats.

If a person’s kidneys are not able to fully remove the extra uric acid from their body, it can build up in the body and form needle-like crystals. These crystals cause inflammation, leading to joint pain.

What are probiotics? Probiotics are living microorganisms a person takes as a dietary supplementTrusted Source.

They can also be found naturally in fermented foods such as kefir and yogurt. Probiotics are normally a mix of both “good” live bacteria and yeastsTrusted Source that naturally live in the body.

When ingested, probiotics help increase and balance the amount of “good” bacteria in the body, helping aid the body in digestion.

Taking additional probiotics can also help rebalance the amount of “good” and “bad” bacteria in the body after taking antibiotic medication.

And previous research shows probiotics can help with certain health conditions, including:
diarrheaTrusted Source, irritable bowel syndromeTrusted Source (IBS), urinary tract infectionsTrusted Source (UTI), yeast infectionTrusted Source, eczemaTrusted Source, periodontal disease.