Green Tea Causing Gout?

In summary, I believe it was the "strong" green tea got me immediate Gout attack.  I believe the  "youth papaya green tea" should work for Gout.  We just need a light dose of green tea.  Also, there are many kinds of green tea. We may need to pick "Longjing Tea"........

If you are interested in my experience with Green Tea, please read on.....

In Chinese diet, we have many different kinds of soups or foods that serve the purpose of making us healthy.  These diets are not medicine.  They are not supposed to cure your sickness but to help you getting better.  The interesting thing is we do not know exactly if they work or not.  We just trust them and they are in our culture.  In my opinion, some of them actually work while some work psychologically.

Nevertheless, my family had been searching for such a diet that helps Gout for a while.  There is nothing to loose for trying.  Of course, we got many suggestions in return.  Among them, "youth papaya green tea" was heard from different sources.  First, a Chinese MD in South Africa had told me about this.  Also, my brother heard of it from another source (I don't remember the source).  One day,  I read some advertisement on the newspaper mentioning the function of "Youth papaya green tea" to improve Gout.  So, my wife and I believed this was worthy to try.

Last month, I got Gout attack again. So, my wife bought a "youth papaya" and some "green tea".  At first, she boiled two green tea bag with the "youth papaya" for about a hour.  Then she thought two bags were not strong enough and added one more tea bag in it.  At the end,  it was a bowl of very strong "youth papaya green tea". The taste was so bitter that I had to mix some honey with the tea.  It took two hours for me to finish it.  Before drinking the tea, I had only egg sandwiches with cheese for breakfast. Since then, I had eaten nothing except the "youth papaya green tea".   Around two hours after during the tea,  the Gout started to attack again.  It was painful!

My question was, is "youth papaya green tea" supposed to get Gout better? So I searched the web.   Surely, I got articles that suggesting  "youth papaya green tea" for gout.  However, I also found some sites also mentioning "Green tea" is not good for people with high uric acid.

Puzzles solved!  Just like drugs, the dose does matter! Strong tea is the real problem!

In summary, I believe it was the "strong" green tea got me immediate Gout attack.  I believe the  "youth papaya green tea" should work for Gout.  We just need a light dose of green tea.  Also, there are many kinds of green tea. We may need to pick "Longjing Tea".  By the way, strong tea could be bad for stomach. So make sure it is not too strong for drink.

Suggested Reading
1.  Recipe for preparing youth papaya green tea(in Chinese)
2.  'Youth papaya green tea' is good for gout and health (in Chinese)
3.  Green tea not good for people with high uric acid (2nd article) (in Chinese/can be translated in English by Google)

Oatmeal causing Gout attack?

In summary, Instant Oatmeal have medium level of Purine and is not good for gout. One cannot take too much especially during gout attack.  Nevertheless, other types of oat could be good for gout. 

If you are interested in my gout experience with oatmeal, please read on......


Will oatmeal cause Gout?  My doctor said "No".  That was what I believed.  Here is one of my experiences.

One Monday morning, my foot got swollen suddenly.  I knew that it was the gout attack again.  So, I tried to recall the food list of last couple days to see what was causing the attack.  The food list was:

Thursday : Hotpot (only very few pieces of meat and mainly vegetables)

Friday : Bread/Curry beef rice/Fish ball noodles.

Saturday: Oatmeal/instant noodles/Vegetables+Tofu/Stream Chicken

Sunday: Sandwiches/Lunch mainly with vegetables and little meat/dinner is similar+2 pieces of Mushroom.

Based on the list, it should be the last two pieces of mushroom triggering the gout attack.  My question was  "Which food on the list made my uric acid level so high?".  Usually, two pieces of mushroom should not trigger the attack.  Yes, I know there were some food with higher Purine level.  However, I had controlled the food intake quantities quite well that such little amount should not be a big problem.   And I had been managing that quite well over years.

After reviewing the list several times, I spotted "Oatmeal", which everyone tells me it is ok to eat.  It is supposed to be the "healthy food", which can lower cholesterol level and good for heart.  I recalled that I took a very large bowl of it on Saturday morning, since I had had hotpot and Curry on Thursday and Friday.  I thought Oatmeal should help keeping my uric acid level low.  "Would Oatmeal be the killer this time?".

Then I searched for oatmeal and gout on the internet.  Some say oatmeal is good for gout and some say bad.  The information was very confusing.  Reading it over and over, I spotted the word "instant oatmeal".  Why was "instant" so specifically mentioned?  With some more articles,  I started to realize that there are different kinds of oats, "whole gain oats" and "instant oats".    "Instant oats" is fast cooking processed oatmeal.  "Whole gain oats" is slow cooked oatmeal which could be good for gout......

Finally, I got the conclusion.

"Instant Oatmeal have medium level of Purine and is not good for gout. One cannot take too much especially during gout attack.  Nevertheless, other types of oat could be good for gout."

The oatmeal I took on Saturday was instant Oatmeal.  Finally, I found the killer!

So next time, when looking for oat, we need to look for "whole gain oats".

Suggested Reading

1.  People have similar experience

2.  Which kind of oats are good for Gout?

3.  Quick-cooking oatmeal can be bad for gout

4.  Oatmeal with high and moderately high purine level

5. About Oats

About this Gout blog

Hello Everyone,

     I started this blog about Gout as I have been suffering from Gout for many years.  I found that many of my friends and relatives have Gout too.  Knowledge and experience have been shared around us.  I found that different people have different Gout experience, some better, some worse. I hope this blog can help people who are interested in this topic.  For each post, I will try to include some references as suggested readings.   And if you have any Gout experience you can share, especially about any food, drink, or drug, please feel free to leave some comment.

Here is the list of the blog so far, feel free to visit.

Oatmeal causing Gout attack?
Green Tea Causing Gout?
Is Gout genetic?
Sport causing Gout?
With Gout, how much water should I drink?
MSG/Additives, causing Gout Attack?
Gout pills side effects......?
What can I do when I feel Gout attack is coming?
Soup causing Gout?
How much water should I drink after exercise?
Cherries Good for Gout?