What Role Does Magnesium Play In a Gout Diet?
Magnesium is an alkaline mineral that is found in many foods like leafy green veggies like romaine, lettuce, spinach, nuts and whole grains. Magnesium performs many functions in your body, helping control the amount of calcium in your body to muscle functions as well as your heart and kidneys. But where it concerns us gout sufferers, did you know that magnesium helps to circulate your blood better?
Magnesium will lower your blood pressure making your heart work more efficiently reducing any excess strain on it. The more your blood flows smoothly in your body, the more excess uric acid your body can remove avoiding any crystallization in the joints which can cause a gout attack. Actually magnesium has been shown and may be an effective treatment for acute cases of gout.
If you have signs of magnesium deficiency, you may be susceptible to developing gout. Many people are magnesium deficient and don’t even know it. There are few key symptoms to look out for that could indicate this like experiencing leg cramps on a regular basis, insomnia due to anxiety, restlessness and hyperactivity. You can also experience muscle pain and/or fibromyalgia which magnesium has shown to help decrease its’ symptoms. In addition, fatigue, anxiety, type 2 diabetes, migraines and high blood pressure can also be indicative that you are magnesium deficient.
So if you are magnesium deficient then you definitely want to add magnesium-rich foods in your diet or take magnesium supplements to compensate. Make sure to talk to your doctor before embarking on consuming magnesium supplements though. They can produce minor side effects that usually go away after a few days like diarrhea.
Some other more serious complications can occur if you take more magnesium than your doctor recommends. Your blood pressure may suddenly drop too low, you may experience bradycardia, a condition in which your heartbeats slow down to fewer than 60 beats per minute. Too much magnesium can, in extreme cases cause you to fall into a coma or even to die!
Did you know that it is estimated that about 80% of adults may lack enough magnesium in their body? This is due to soil depletion that lowers the amount of magnesium that is present in crops. Another factor is the high rate of prescription medication and antibiotic use that damages our digestive tract to the point that it cannot be properly absorbed. There are also digestive disorders in the gut, that lead to malabsorption of magnesium and other minerals.
How Much Magnesium Should You Have?
These are the current Recommended Dietary Allowances for magnesium depending on your age and gender according to the National Institutes of Health:
- 14–18 years: 410 mg for men; 360 mg for women
- 19–30 years: 400 mg for men; 310 mg for women
- Adults 31 years and older: 420 mg for men; 320 mg for women
- Pregnant women: 350-360 mg
- Women who are breastfeeding: 310-320 mg
12 replies to "Gout and Magnesium"
Hello, I have found that 1 tsp. of celery seed assists with uric acid excretion. I believe it is celery’s diuretic properties that help. It also in turn lowers your BP.
Cutting out ALL seafood and red meat helps quite a bit.
Just smell that Ribeye but do not eat it! Good Luck!
Gout for me is very painful, on my left big toe. I found the Salonpas pain relieving patch very effective when treating gout for pain. My personal remedy – I took two 200 mg of ibuprofen every 4 – 6 hours (but not more than a total of 1200 in 24 hours), applied one of the patches to the painful area on my big toe (replacing it every two hours), and elevated my foot as often as I could. I feel an immediate relief from the pain following that regimen. Good luck to all gout pain sufferers. I really do, “feel your pain!”
Hello – I’ve been dealing with gout for nearly 50 years. Thru most of it, allopurinol kept the uric acid in check. I use colchicine if symptoms become acute.
Now at 65, stress triggered an extended issue with the big toe on my right foot. Nothing works. Some days good, some days bad. My uric acid level is 5.1, well within the boundaries for even gout sufferers. I’m now under the care of a rheumatologist and making some progress. Here’s hoping for some pain-free days ahead. — Ken Lipshez, Unionville CT
Hi Ken,
I guess you got a tophi on ur right foot toe. Feburic(febuxostat) should be more effective. On long term consumption, it will reduce the Tophi on ur foot. Check with your physician about it.
Thanks,
K
Hi there, I got gout a few years ago in my fingers. A homeopath said it comes from sugar. I cut down on sugar and it went away. You’ll find info re sugar and gout in the internet, too. I also started Epsom Salt baths which is magnesium sulphate. It is far better than any oral magnesium and it solved lots of other problems as well. Even my hair is getting darker again. Nice side effect!
I promote Liquid Gel and Bath Flakes magnesium Chloride. It helps your body in many ways.
I have resently been tortured with the pain of gout and can now say that it helps better than most any other things I’ve seen to try to reduce the pain and discomfort
Hi all,
I just wanted to float this out there and see if it can work for other people.
Background: I suffered my first gout attack two years ago. After that, I became extremely conscious of my diet. I started making myself a smoothie every day:
Beet
Kale
Banana
Apple
Blueberries
Pineapple
Raspberries
After a little over a year without a second attack, I admittedly let myself get lax. Sure enough, after a long day mountain biking, my big toe started to get that stiffness which signals the onset of a full on acute attack. Sure enough, my toe swelled up the next day and I was limping around for a week.
A couple months later, the same feeling in my toe came back. This time, I immediately went back to making myself that smoothie for a couple days. While I can feel a little stiffness (not enough to keep me from the gym) in my toe, the acute attack never came.
Most recently, a couple weeks ago, I went on multi-day back-country ski trip (where I let myself get pretty dehydrated). My toe again got that stiff/sore feeling. Again, I went on my smoothie diet (smoothie in the morning, eating regularly the rest of the day). While I can feel that the joint in my toe is definitely a little stiff, it doesn’t keep me from going to the gym.
I wanted to share this here and see if other people might try it and share their results. I live a pretty active life style that can easily trigger acute gout attacks, but this recipe seems to be working for me at staving them off.
Spiro,
Good information. I am on Vit D3 supplement prescription because of an unusually low blood lab result.
I do not suffer diabetes, or hypertension, or anxiety or insomnia (except when I hurt). But I get terrible leg cramps and head aches.
Thanks for the tips
Richard
Hey who knew maybe that’s why I never got gout. I have taken magnesium for a number of years now for sleep and relaxing and calming the body.
Spiro: I have been on Nurti-Gout for about 7 months now with great results. Thanks!
But it irritates me that Amazon shows the product at a price of $19.95 and your shipping and handling is almost $5.00 for a product that shows up in my mail box after a few days.
It won’t stop me from buying but it is a “burr in my Saddle” so to speak.
Tom
Hi Tom!
If you subscribe to Amazon Prime the shipping is free. Unfortunately, I am not in control of the shipping costs at Amazon, they decide that.
I’ve found bulk magnesium chloride for around $45 for a 50lb bag. I treasure 1 tsp daily or ever other day. So much cheaper than monthly supplies.
Good luck