Are Cheerios bad for gout?
Dr. Martin never did a show on Cheerios and gout as a pair. But he talked about both, often, and his answer is not hard to put together. Gout, in his view, is a sugar problem. Cereal is a sugar food. So the bowl of Cheerios that most gout lists call safe is the bowl he would take off your table.
He did exactly that in his office. Patients with metabolic syndrome, which for him included high uric acid, got the same conversation about breakfast.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1763And I used to tell 'em, okay, we're going to change your life here. What do you have for breakfast? Cereal. Okay, we're going to stop that. No more cereal.
The rest of this article is why.
Are Cheerios low in purines, and does it matter?
Most gout advice ranks food by purines, and by that measure a grain cereal looks fine and a steak looks dangerous. Dr. Martin has argued against that model since he was a student in the 1970s. He goes back to gout's old name, the king's disease.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 910It wasn't because the king was eating steak that he got gout. It was because he was drinking wine and beer.
So a low purine count does not clear Cheerios in his book. He is not counting purines at all.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1181The biggest thing that drives uric acid is fructose. Okay? It's not red meat. I know they like to say purines, but it's fructose and it's the reason.
He covers the meat side of this in does red meat cause gout.
What actually raises uric acid?
Everybody makes uric acid, he says. The question is how much, and what is feeding it.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 910Everybody 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.
He blames the switch to high fructose corn syrup in the 1980s for gout being up about 300 per cent, and he says it hides in far more than soda.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1082It's found in every crappy food in the middle aisles of your grocery store, including cereals. That's how you make uric acid.
Read the label on your own box. Not every cereal uses high fructose corn syrup, and his deeper point does not depend on it. He puts gout under metabolic syndrome, the same family as high blood sugar and belly fat.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1643You have insulin resistance and gout is a sign of insulin resistance. That is the bottom line of it.
And when he lists what causes that, cereal is named.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 759because the only thing that causes metabolic syndrome is crappy carbs, bread, pasta, rice, cereals, sugar, sweets.
On the same episode he says gout is not purines, it is a form of metabolic disorder, and that is why it is so common today. If that link is new to you, see the signs of insulin resistance in women over 60.
Do Cheerios turn to sugar?
This is where Cheerios themselves come in. He picks them because they top the healthy lists.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1033Let's say you just had Cheerios. Cheerios are gonna turn to sugar in nanoseconds
Then insulin has to clear that sugar out of your blood, fast, because sugar damages blood vessels. Do that every morning for years and the cells stop listening to insulin. That is insulin resistance, and in his view that is the soil gout grows in. The plain, low sugar box does not escape it, because he is counting what the grain becomes, not just the sugar on the label.
He is also not impressed by the heart on the box. He says he watched cereal get ranked above eggs in his lifetime.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1032Cereal better than bacon and eggs. Cheerios. Imagine putting Cheerios ahead of an egg.
What about Honey Nut Cheerios?
The flavored boxes are worse, and he read one out on air to make the point. He was comparing it with a chocolate bar cereal.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1084Honey Nut Cheerios. Must be good because it's got whole grains and honey and nuts. 73 grams, yikes, of carbs and sugars.
That number put the honey version above the candy cereal he was mocking. The words whole grain and honey on the front did nothing for him.
Are whole grains and oatmeal better for gout?
Most gout guides send you from Cheerios to oatmeal. He does not. When he hears that Frosted Flakes are great and oatmeal is just wonderful, here is his reply.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1028No it's not. No, it's not. It's pure sugar.
The usual defence of cereal is fiber, and he has a short answer for that too.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1068You're not a rabbit, okay? Don't worry about fiber. That was made up, okay? It was made up by the cereal companies.
So swapping one grain for another does not fix gout in his view. Getting the grain off the plate does.
What should you eat for breakfast with gout?
The same breakfast he gave his metabolic syndrome patients. Bacon if you like bacon. Sausages if you like sausages. As many eggs as you want. Leave the toast aside, because toast turns to sugar too, whole wheat or not. And stop the orange juice.
Then two drinks he names for gout specifically.
Coffee, without sugar. He says coffee is one of the best things you can do for gout, as long as you do not sweeten it.
Water. Uric acid leaves through your kidneys, and he says you need water to flush it out. He calls your kidneys Niagara Falls and wants them flowing. In his practice, the people with uric acid crystals in their joints were often dehydrated.
And the one he would cut first is soda. He read a study on air saying men who cut out soda cut their risk of gout by 85 per cent, and women by 74 per cent. For more breakfast ideas, see the best breakfast for energy after 60.
If you are on gout medication, keep taking it. He is clear on air that he does not tell people to stop their medications.
Common questions
Are Cheerios good for gout?
Not in Dr. Martin's view. He says gout is driven by fructose and insulin resistance, Cheerios turn to sugar in nanoseconds, and he took patients with high uric acid off cereal.
Are Cheerios low in purines?
Grain cereals are usually ranked low in purines, but he does not think purines cause gout. He says the biggest driver of uric acid is fructose, not red meat.
Is oatmeal better than Cheerios for gout?
He does not think so. He calls oatmeal pure sugar once it gets into your system, and says fiber was made up by the cereal companies.
What breakfast cereal is OK for gout?
He would not pick one. His breakfast for high uric acid is bacon, sausages and eggs, with coffee and no sugar.
What drinks help gout?
Water to flush uric acid through the kidneys, and coffee without sugar. He would cut soda and fruit juice first.
Start with insulin
Dr. Martin calls gout a sign of insulin resistance. Blood Sugar Support Formula is the clinic's daily formula for healthy blood sugar.
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