Gout and goutiness and their treatment.

  • Ewart, William, 1848-1929.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gout and goutiness and their treatment. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

    563/612 (page 547)
    the saccharine constituents of food are a source of trouble, and have to be given up; while in all gouty patients acids, or any ingesta leading to acidity, are little short of poison; and even fresh fruit has been regarded as distinctly obnoxious. Thus restricted, very little would remain for the unfor- tunate patient to live upon, and he would be sadly deprived of that variety to which we attach primary importance in dietetics. Often, however, the disability is apparent rather than real. It is the mixture and the excess of food which the gouty stomach can no longer manage. Except in aggravated dyspepsia, any one class of food-stuffs taken separately will be successfully digested. This is the secret of the success of an exclusive meat diet, of an exclusive milk diet, and of pure vegetarianism. Although none of these exclusive plans are permanently practicable, we learn from them that the essential principle of diet in gout is plain food and uncomplicated mixing of foods. For this reason the least easily-managed elements of diet—the carbo-hydrates and the fats—should not be taken promiscuously, and when combined with others only in small quantities and in the most simple form. This applies particularly to the sugars and to the fried fats, which will inevitably disagree if taken with much other food. The Value of Change in Diet.—It is sometimes alleged that any interference with the habits of digestion and with the customary supplies may act detrimentally in gout by upsetting the function, and indirectly leading to gouty complications. In extreme old age it is, doubtless, wise not to interfere with the slender forces of digestion, which survive, as it were, on the strength of habit; and anything suggested should be strictly in harmony with the patient's instinct and experience. With gout at a less