Gout has been around as long as people have been. In the annals of history, some famous people such as Napoleon have suffered from gout.
But why are we seeing so much gout today? It’s up about 300% from what it was in the 1970s!
Join Dr. Martin in today’s episode as he refreshes your thinking and explains why the condition is more prevalent today. A hint is that it has to do with sugar!
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
Announcer: You're listening to The Doctor Is In Podcast, brought to you by MartinClinic.com. During the episode, the doctors share a lot of information. As awesome as the info may be, it is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. It's strictly for informational purposes.
Dr. Martin: Well, good morning. How's everyone today. Hope you're having a great start to your day. Looking forward to our week together here, as we look into some of the studies and things that are going on in the health news. So let's talk this morning about the perfect storm of gout. Now we've done programs on gout before, but I just thought I would refresh your thinking on it. Why? First of all, the question is asked, why do we see so much gout today? And guess what? I have the answer. <laugh> why is there so much gout now? Gout has been around as long as people have been around. Okay. And medically in the annals of history, people have suffered with gout. Napoleon was one of them and some very famous people suffered from gout. Now, I think it's important that we look at this. I call it the perfect storm of gout, because I'll tell you one thing when you test uric acid, okay.
A lot of people have high levels of uric acid and don't get gout. And I wanna explain them. I wanna get into that. I want to talk this morning, why it takes a perfect storm to get gout. Okay. Now historically gout has been called the King's disease. Peasants didn't get dealt. Apparently it was called the King's disease. The king often would get gout if you Google gout, okay. Almost every site that you will look at almost invariably red meat is going to be blamed for go, okay. Almost without exception. Red meat is blamed for gout. And I wanna tell you my friend that that's not true. It wasn't because the king was eating steak that he got gout. It was because he was drinking wine and beer.
Okay. That was a big part of it. And like I said, there's factors that you have to look at when you look at go, okay, why is it today? That gout is up about 300% from what it was in the seventies. It's not like it wasn't around. Of course it was around, but why is it today? Well, let's do it by deduction. What has changed? What's going on? Okay. We changed the sugar. That's the number one reason guys. We have changed the sugar. It went from glucose to fructose and fructose high fructose corn syrup. The antichrist of sugars, the devil of sugars plays havoc with the liver and forms. Now everybody makes uric acid. So don't think you don't make uric acid. Everybody on the planet makes uric acid. It's primarily a byproduct of fructose metabolism, but everybody makes it and your body needs to break it down.
Uric acid needs to be broken down into urate, and you're supposed to pee it out a little bit in your bowel, but mostly through the kidneys. And you literally pee out that uric the breakdown of uric acid, but everybody makes it it's. Whether it ends up. Gout is a perfect storm where uric acid crystals form in joints. And they love more particular, you know, the distal joint like the big toe, but a lot of people get gout in their knees. They can get it very painful in the ankle knee, sometimes in the finger. When you get uric acid crystals forming there. But if your body doesn't detoxify and I've always said, this it's a perfect storm. Gout is a perfect storm. You need certain conditions for it to happen.
Okay. And it ain't purines. Now, purines are there, but that's not how you get gout. Okay. And that's why they'll tell you, well, don't eat red meat and purines and certain shellfish and other things. Now I'm telling you I was in practice long enough. I watched it from the early 1970s and get into like an epidemic. By the time we hit the 21st century, you know, it was unreal how much gout? So let's go over the primary reasons. Okay? The primary reasons that people get gout, gaudy arthritis, and it's no fun at all. Okay? And people sometimes mistake, gaudy arthritis for other forms of arthritis.
Now here's the perfect storm. One high fructose corn syrup, especially when you drink fructose high fructose corn syrup is terrible for the body. Your body doesn't really know what it is because it was made in a lab. It's an artificial sugar. It is a hundred times sweeter than sugar. It is addictive and the food industry loves it because it's inexpensive, it's addictive. And, uh, especially when you drink it, you know me, you think of fruit and you think healthy fruit, sugar, fruit toast, you think healthy. I call them God's candies. And the reason I do that is because we live in a different age altogether, never mind the GMOs and all this and that like fruits are much sweeter than they used to be, but that's not what I talk about so much because 93% used to be 88. Now it's 93. Well boy, 93% of the population.
You only have 7%. Okay. I was never good in math, but I was good enough to know that only 7% of the population in north America are healthy metabolically. We are, uh, wreck as society. And because our society are rarely everything's of prevention, never talks about metabolic syndrome, rarely. And we wait till people get sick. And then we spend gazillions trying to fix people. And everybody's worried about, you know, the hospitals they're overwhelmed and this and that. And they call it the healthcare system. But it's not, it's a disease care system. It's unfortunate, but we do not put emphasis on getting people off the Titanic of metabolic syndrome, which is at the root of all chronic diseases. Noninfectious diseases from cardiovascular to cancer, to Alzheimer's diabetes, the big four killers in our society today, the big four, and they're all linked to metabolic syndrome. And metabolic syndrome is linked to insulin resistance.
It's because the world has changed and we became carbos sugarholic with primarily bad sugar, fruit toast, high fr toast, corn syrup. It's in every stinking thing that the food industry makes. When you see sugar's added from yogurt to, to anything you drink. I saw yesterday, a guy drinking, ensure I literally have to stop myself from commenting. You know, the guy didn't know me from Adam and I saw him drinking. Sure. And I felt like going over to him and saying, this drink will ensure that you die. And by word, to give it to cancer patients, that's gonna ensure that the cancer grows grows, grows, okay? And don't drink fruit. God wanted you to eat fruit, not drink it. That will skyrocket your uric acid levels. Now that doesn't necessarily give you gout, but it's going to give you insulin resistance and insulin resistance is going to give you metabolic syndrome, which is belly fat, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, low HDL, and elevated levels of uric acid, which in my opinion is a form of metabolic syndrome. It's a reader. It's something I like to look at. This will elevate your A1C. Okay?
So, acid, not purines cause I get that comment once a week, my doctor told me or my husband's doctor told him, stop eating red meat limit your red meat. It gives you gout. No it doesn't. Gout hates steak. Got it. Gout hates steak, but it loves fr dose. And so in my days of practicing clinical nutrition, I used to tell my patients that were suffering from gout to eliminate fruit toast. And I would get them. They could eat very little fruit and certainly not drink it. No more orange juice, no more apple juice, no more fruit smoothies. None of that stuff, no sodas. You know, one of the biggest things that I would try and get people to do and it's habits, isn't it remember 21 days to form a habit we go past that. When we do the reset, I try and get people to understand what they drink is really important.
What they drink is really important. Like if you're on the reset, you're not drinking alcohol. Now look, I'm not telling you. You have to be a tea. Total. What I am saying is that if you wanna push the needle on insulin and insulin resistance, alcohol is not good for that. So people that have gout, they would get a sermon from me. Don't drink fructose one and be very careful with alcohol because that turns and goes directly to the liver and will increase your levels of uric. So insulin resistance, insulin resistance is at the key metabolic syndrome. And guess what? Pushes that needle guys? Yes. Sugar, especially fructose and high fructose corn syrup is the worst of the worst of the worst. There is nothing positive about high fructose corn syrup and they couch it. The food industry have been able to couch it and hide it and not let you know it's disguised and to give it all sorts of names.
I think I was up to 99 different names. <laugh> on labels in my book, the metabolic reset. Okay. So one layoff the fructose. It is at the root of gout. Two, you need healthy kidneys. You need healthy kidneys. You need to flush out. Kidneys are Nira falls. What? One of the things that was consistent in my practice days, I've seen people with uric acid crystallized in their joints was poor kidney function. They were dehydrated. You don't have a little light on top of your head. Be nice if you did, but you don't that tells you please add water. There is nothing. I mean, nothing that will detox your kidneys more than water. H two oh, vitamin w on the Martin clinic, vitamin charts, it deserves a vitamin status and we gave it and you need everybody needs no exceptions. Two liters are for my American friends, 64 ounces.
That is the sweet spot of water. Now some people need more than that. Certainly if you're a person that sweats easily, listen, everybody needs two liters or 64 ounces. That is your sweet spot of water. And some need more but not less. Huh? Dr. Ren, I'm not thirsty. Well, don't wait till you're thirsty. You don't have a red light by the time you're thirsty. You're already dehydrated people. Don't realize that every time they drink water, they should think of flushing. Your brain needs water. Every part of your body needs water. The best fiber for your gut is water. Not fiber <laugh> you know me and fiber's overrated. A lot of people, their gut is sluggish. They just don't drink it. And remember this only water is water. So in the office, I said, you gotta go home and drink water. And I don't like water doc.
I didn't see. You have to like it. I said, I promise you something. If you can form Ahab of drinking 64 ounces of water, two liters of water a day. I promise you. I promise you. You're gonna feel a lot better. I promise you that your body will detox itself. If you flush those kidneys up, flush 'em out. Get the CRA out, get the uric acid, get it out, clean it out. Drink water. Okay. So the perfect storm fructose forgot fructose dehydration and minerals. Number three, you see guys, people don't realize this. They don't understand it. Let me talk about pH for a minute. Okay? Cause your body is the greatest thing. You know, I always say it guys. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. And I mean it, if you don't believe in God, I, I don't know what to tell you. When you look at the human body, unbelievable, you don't even think about it, but your body has a buffering system and your buffering system in your body keeps your pH okay.
Of your blood. Your blood must be in a tight, tight, tight, tight range of its pH people. Get this all wrong because they learn O pH on the acidic. Well, yes and no, I'll get into it. Let me break this down. Yes and no, but your blood isn't a acidic. Your blood's not a acidic because your body will not allow your blood to become a acidic nor to alkaline. It must be slightly alkaline between 7.3 and 7.45. It has to be in that tight range and everything in your body will keep it there because, okay. And this is where I'm gonna go on on one little rapid trail just for a second. Okay. Promise. I come back a lot of doctors. Okay. God bless them. But sometime, especially in nutrition, they're poorly trained.
So I remember when keto was coming up. Okay. Like you gotta go back now what? 10 years? Or, you know, when did keto get really popular? Gotta be 10 years, at least now. Right? But I remember I get a lot of physicians were telling their patients, well, don't get keto. Cause you're gonna get keto acid, Don. You know how many times I hurt that from physicians that gives you keto acidosis. Now it don't keto. Acidosis is very dangerous. That's when your blood becomes acidic and your body can't buffer it anymore. You know who get that and be very dangerous. Our diabetics. So it doesn't come from acidic. Oh, meats, acidic. Don't eat keto. Uh, look, I'm not big on keto anyways. Okay. Just because it's been hijacked, keto got hijacked by the food industry. They're making all these keto foods. Ooh, I don't like them because they're soy and there's all sorts of crap in there. And I don't like that. I'm a farmer's best friend. Get back to nature. But doctors said, well, that's gonna make you a acidic. If you go into ketosis, that's gonna make you a acidic. No it doesn't. Keto acids is different. That is very dangerous. It's when your buffering system is not working. And that can happen in a diabetic. And guess my diabetics it's sugar, not meat.
Diabetics don't have trouble with meat, have trouble with sugar and sugar left unabated. When you can't control, it can put you into keto. Acidosis. That'll kill you, my friend. And when someone is dying, by the way, and everything starts to shut down. Guess what? They go into keto acidosis, the body's buffering system, not working anymore. It's the final stage of disease. You're getting ready to meet your maker. Your body goes into keto acidosis because your kidneys stop functioning and your blood's becoming very acidic and that'll kill you. But what we're talking about is when your interstitial fluid, now that's a big word. Your joint fluid becomes acidic, not your blood, your interstitial fluid. How does that happen? How does your interstitial fluid become acidic and a perfect environment for uric acid crystals to sit in joints? How does that happen? A lack of minerals, a lack of minerals.
I'm big on minerals. You guys know that I don't want you to necessarily take a supplement. Although I love magnesium and some need potassium, but you need salt. People have this idea, salt, bad. Nah, it's not bad. Salt's not bad for you. Sugar's bad for you. Salt's not bad for you. And you need mineral salt. And some people need more than others for that interstitial fluid to become alkaline. Now, how do you test for that? We used to do it in the office all the time. Okay. And people test their urine. Don't test your urine for that. I tested urine pH to see if you were detoxifying. Okay? Because morning urine should be very acidic. Not alkaline. Your urine should be acidic, but that's your detoxification. Of course you're peeing out. Garbage, your first morning urine. That's what I used to like to test P I did a lot of testing on urine, but we did a saliva test to see if your saliva was acidic or alkaline, because that gave you a better indication of your interstitial fluid, not your blood, but your interstitial fluid.
And a lot of people were acidic in their saliva and they were acidic because they were bad eaters. Now let me back up one step. There is nothing that will make your interstitial fluid. More acidic than one. If you're dehydrated, no water, not enough. Two, not enough minerals. And we talked about that. You need calcium. Eat your calcium. God gave you calcium in cheese and in bath. And remember what K2 does. We talked about this the other day, K2, because when you eat butter and cheese and meat, you get a lot of calcium and K2. Okay? So you don't need to supplement calcium. You need to eat it. And today in our day and age where people have been drinking, the cooling, they get away from eating my cheese. It's not good for me. It gives me cholesterol. Butter gives me cholesterol and they eat all these artificial foods.
Your body doesn't even know what they are. They eat margarine and they don't eat cheese and they buy the lie. They go against farming and they live only on vegetables and fruit friend. Don't do that. Vitamin K2, which is important to transport your calcium, where it belongs is found in the animal kingdom. And you need salt. Sugar makes your interstitial fluid acidic. You lose salt. When you eat sugar, did you know that it's not salt? That gives you high blood pressure? It's sugar. There's nothing that will change your interstitial fluid, acidic like sugar. Does you lose salt? And people have been getting away from salt. I don't want you having tabled salt either by the way. Okay? I'm not talking about that type of salt. I'm talking about a real good salt. Pour it on your food.
It helps you want the pH of your interstitial fluid to be alkaline alkaline. You don't have to drink alkaline water per se. Like if you drink mineral water, which you know, I like the best spring water is the best water you don't have to. You know, you see these waters that are, you know, almost three or four bucks a bottle and they say, alkaline water, yay. Make your own. My friend, just put a pinch of salt in. You're making your own, but having a high nine or whatever, like I've seen water at nine, ah, it ain't going to be nine. Once it gets into your body. Guys, I can tell you that it's not gonna change your blood. Don't aim for your blood, aim for your interstitial fluid. Okay? Now here's a couple of other things that I wanted to talk to you about. And it comes back to insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome. You gotta fix that, fix that, fix that. And by the way, some people, when they lose weight can get a gout attack. I've seen it happen. The key there is making sure you are getting enough salt. Obviously the reset is gonna get rid of insulin resistance, but you need salt. Pour it on my friend. Salt's good for you. And the only time salt can ever elevate your blood pressure is if you consume salt in the absence of water, that's called viscosity. When your blood becomes thicker than molasses for nothing.
Okay. Did we have fun? What <laugh> guys, we thank you again. We appreciate you guys. You have no idea. Thank you for everything. Thank you for following us. And we get thousands of new followers a day. Thank you. By the way, we're going to have a big celebration for the doctors in podcast. That is well passed. Now, the million download guys. That's word of mouth. That's people sharing <laugh>. I showed someone the other day, how to get on it because you can get it on your smartphone. Even for people that are not too smart. The phone is smart. <laugh> I'm not that smart. I don't know how to use that phone very well, but I do know how to find my podcast. The doctor is in podcast. All of these Facebook lives are turned into podcasts. So you can tell your friends about tell your family about it. If they don't believe you, they might not believe me either, but you can bring a horse to water. Okay. And a little salt makes them thirstier. I heard a radio guy the other day say, uh I'm right, and they're wrong. And that settles it. <laugh> okay guys, we got a great week lined up. It's gonna be fun. Okay. Share this. You can share Facebook. You know, we appreciate it. We love you guys.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In Podcast, with your hosts, Doctor Martin Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode and thanks for listening!