Triggering Foods to Result in a Gout Attack
Depending on your gout condition and what type of food that you eat, it can be as soon as 30 minutes after you have taken a meal with some gout triggering high purine food. In most cases, it takes a few hours for the protein and purine content to be broken down to uric acid that enters the synovial fluids and form some new urate crystals that kick start the gouty immune reaction.
Some food shows as faster reaction compared to other high purine diet, but it may be fast for one gout patient but not the other. Some people are sensitive to seafood sources, just a few pieces of anchovies is enough to cause the gout inflammation that will torture him for next few days.
Some are completely OK with seafood or meat, but they are sensitive to beans or nuts which are high in purine too. It is even worse when those nuts are taken together with a few glasses of beer in the pub. The attack can be so soon that he will have problem driving back home, not because of drunk but because of a swollen feet that does not allow him to step on the throttle or break.
Different people have different body conditions that react to the food or drink that he or she consumes. The bio chemical processes is a complex pathway that involve different types of enzymes to break down the food into the basic unit (uric acid) and then restructure it to become the causing agents (urate crystals).
For some people who have sensitive immune system especially those ever suffered from other auto immune diseases such as asthma and allergy, it is easier for them to get the gout attack even though their uric acid level in the blood is within a healthy range or slightly above the safe range.
This is because gout is an auto immune disease which the ‘immune police’ or white blood cells assume those urate crystals that formed in the joints are foreign invaders which might be threatening to the body. Just like when someone is stung by a bee or mosquito, the poison or saliva is immediately detected as foreign substances and a series of immune reactions will take place within a few minutes such as the burning inflammation, redness on the swollen skin and itchiness or pain.
There are many variables that determine how fast you can get a gout attack after taking a gout triggering meal, but you will know the answer after a few rounds of attacks. I know it sound absurd, but that seems to be the most effective and accurate way to know the answer.
