Are you in your 20s or 30s and suffer from gout?
Couple of articles caught my attention last week and this is important information for gout sufferers everywhere!
Surprise, surprise, surprise! Gout is on the rise and doctors in hospitals across the UK are now saying that they are seeing a sharp rise of gout in young people that are in their 20s and 30s! For those that follow my blog you all know that I was diagnosed with gout in my 20s as well.
The doctors believe that the rise in obesity and people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is the main reasons for the rise of gout in young people. The UK Department of Health clearly states that the number of people diagnosed with gout has doubled in the past 10 years! In 2014 there was a record of 5,810 gout related appointments in UK hospitals up from 2,658 ten years ago.
A 2019 British study found that gout patients of any have a 25% greater risk of developing a blood clot in the veins in their first 10 years after being diagnosed. But the risk was a whopping 79% higher for those in the under 50 age group!
Since 2012 gout related hospital appointments has rocketed 30% for young people in their 20s and 30s exceeding all other age groups! In the last 5 years there’s been a 26% rise in Allopurinol prescriptions to normalize uric acid levels in gout sufferers.
During that same period there was a 80% increase in Colchicine prescriptions to treat initial gout attacks. All this to say that the NHS is having to increasingly shoulder this growing cost to treat all these new gout sufferers at 1 million pounds per month. The UK Gout Society believes that if obesity can decline this would help halt this abrupt rise in the number of new gout cases.
Gout and Josh Ozersky
This story also caught my attention, the death of food writer and blogger for many publications Josh Ozersky passed away at the young age of 47. The poor guy had attended a foundation gala in Chicago and later that evening was last seen in the karaoke lounge around 4 am. He was found dead a few hours later in his hotel room.
What’s interesting about Josh is that he was diagnosed with gout in 2009 but promised his audience and readers that he wouldn’t be altering his lifestyle at all. Translation, he will continue eating crap regardless of his health.
He is also famous for saying the following quote: “Such is the perversity of vegetarians — you can’t tell whether it’s a gift or an insult. My favorite meat is lamb fat. My philosophy is that the fat is the meat and the meat is the vegetable.” So obviously he liked to eat lots of fat which my ebook strictly teaches you to not even touch it.
When Josh Ozersky wrote for the Esquire magazine which was his last piece he was quoted as saying this about bacon: “Bacon is a weirdly personal taste, possibly more so than any other food… I’ve eaten bacon from commodity pigs that made me happier than bacon from purebred Duroc or Berkshire hogs. I’ve eaten jowl bacon that was better than belly bacon. Bacon cares not for your ideals, aspirations, or social standing. It is a straight-up fetish object, and as such not subject to higher brain function.”
Again I teach you not to eat pork which is one of the worst meats to eat healthwise and you know that too much meat is not good for us gout sufferers anyway. It’s obvious from Josh’s quotes that he was a huge animal fat and protein lover. If I was a betting man, I’d bet that all that meat intake over the years and the way he ate it caused his health to deteriorate to such an awful extent, to have died at such a young age.
I catch these headlines from time to time like Paleo-diet author Seth Roberts who collapsed and died while hiking one day last year at the age of 60 years old. The autopsy later revealed he had coronary heart disease that caused his death. All that meat intake doesn’t do you any good, that’s for sure.
It’s sad to report that gout is on the rise in young people and even sadder to see young ones pass away suddenly. But the health lessons are there for you to learn that if you consume too much meat in general, bad things will happen to your health.
If you are obese, you face an increased risk of developing gout even in your 20s and 30s. If you are young and in your 20s or 30s, and you are eating poorly, not exercising and drinking plenty of alcohol every weekend with your buddies, you are at an increased risk.
This is a wake-up call for you, coming from myself who was overweight in his early 20s since I loved my burgers and fries. I loved to party and drink plenty of whisky and beer. Gave up on sports and exercise to focus more on my social activities which deteriorated my health at the end. Trust me it ain’t worth it, you have to pay the price eventually.
Don’t let gout come in your life. Although if you are reading this, chances are you found this article or website wanting to learn more about gout cause you were recently diagnosed with the disease. Whatever the case may be, make a health and lifestyle change today. The decision is yours to make.