Staff 
September 27, 2013Gout has been documented since antiquity. Traces of gout have been found in Egyptian mummies. Gout was once considered a disease of kings and was linked to too much of the good life. It is now known that it is not necessarily the case. The pain of gout is due to uric acids crystals being deposited into the joints, most commonly the first metatarsophalangeal joint of the foot. This crystals get deposited with the levels of purine are too high in the blood. The purines accumulate in the blood when too much is ingested in the diet for the kidneys to eliminate. This can occur if too much food rich in purines are eaten (eg the gluttony from antiquity) or if there is a kidney disease present (eg diabetes). The treatment of gout is simple. You either take in less purines (ie eat food with less) or get the kidneys to excrete more. There is no magical cure.