Can drinking club soda help my gout?

[Gout Foodie]

“Gout and club soda raises interesting questions. Can fizzy water help gout? Yes, with a couple of warnings. See the truth before wasting money on gout cures.”

Thousands of gout sufferers have asked about club soda and gout. So, I’ve summarized some key points from old discussions:

Subject	Facts	Discussion Summary
Soda Water and Gout	Best Home Remedies For Gout: Water	Gout and Soda
Tonic Water and Gout	No specific facts page so search for tonic water	Gout and Tonic Water
Carbonated Water and Gout	Water as a Home Remedy for Gout	Can drinking club soda help my gout?
Sparkling Water and Gout	Water as a Home Remedy for Gout	Gout and Sparkling Water

Please add your own questions, experiences, and opinions about soda water and gout.

Gout and Tonic Water
Before my summary, I need to say, the old discussion attracted a lot of interest from people asking ‘Is tonic water good for gout?’ Now, tonic water isn’t really club soda. Because, it contains quinine. But, quinine was never mentioned in the club soda discussion. So, if you want to ask about quinine and gout, it’s best to start a new topic.

Gout and Soda
The biggest issues we discussed relate to sodium content of soda water. Now, that isn’t specifically a gout issue. But, many gout sufferers also have problems with high blood pressure (hypertension).

We had some arguments about this. And, confusion seems to arise from manufacturers announcing “sodium free club soda”. So, the message is: ‘Read the label’. If sodium is an issue in your diet, you must check before you buy.

In some products, sodium is replaced with potassium. And, that raised issues about mineral waters.

2018 Update: See Best Home Remedies For Gout: Water for new information. Because this now includes a report showing how “Natural Soda Water Prevents Gout”.

Gout and Sparkling Water
Mineral waters, spring waters, volcanic water, seltzer, and sparkling water are all common names for club soda. But, for any drink, or food, the real effects on gout can only be judged from the label.

So, just because a water is “sparkling” does not make it good, or bad for gout. Therefore, if you want to ask about any type of sparkling water for gout, please quote the product label ingredients and nutrition values. Even the brand is useful, as most manufacturers publish label information online.

Can drinking club soda help my gout?
I’ll finish with Keith’s original conclusion. Then, you can ask for clarification, or add your own thoughts.

1. Carbonated water can help ease constipation. This is relevant to gout as around one third of uric acid is excreted through the gut. A 2002 study, Effects of carbonated water on functional dyspepsia and constipation, reveals that subjects who drank carbonated water for two weeks had 25% less constipation than those who drank tap water.
2. Carbonated water can help increase skin blood flow. The report on skin blood flow and carbonated water involved subjects immersing legs in carbonated water for 10 minutes per say over a 3 week period. Those using carbonated water showed a significantly higher skin blood flow and reduced numbness compared to a control group using tap water. I’m not sure if this will help gout or not, but if anyone has the funds to dangle their gouty joints in club soda, I’d love to hear from you.
3. Club soda has a slight alkalizing effect. There are hundreds of websites that claim the opposite. None of these have any source references for their claims, and many are sales sites for alkalizing diets or products. I finally found a site with clear scientific references. GoutPal.com includes a method for calculating the acid-alkaline balance of diet. It also has list of PRAL values of all foods in the USDA database, showing club soda’s PRAL value of -0.133. I’ll be talking more about PRAL in my diet pages at foodary.com.

So, I’m fairly confident that club soda will have a positive effect for gout patients. Just beware of high blood pressure, and be aware of additives by checking the label.

Will Club Soda help your gout?

[Patrick]

I’ve been reading the site for a few weeks now, and I don’t recall this topic being discussed. I understand the link between sugary drinks (fructose, sucrose, also, etc.) but what about “diet” or “sugar free” drinks?

I used to be a big Diet Coke drinker but after my last gout flare up 2 weeks ago, I have cut out ALL soda style drinks including Diet Coke, Sugar Free Monsters, and the like. The problem is, I used to like an occasional Captain Morgan and Diet Coke. Now that I’ve gone cold turkey in regards to soda drinks and almost all alcohol period, I’m just wondering if there is an actual problem with Diet Cokes or Sugar Free drinks in general. I’ve read the ingredients and besides caramel coloring and aspertame, it doesn’t appear there is anything in there that would trick the body.

Thanks in advance

[Keith Taylor]

I hope other people share their views on this.

Additives like High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), artificial colorings, and sweeteners such as aspartame bring out the devil in gout sufferers. Many people, including myself, never give such things a thought. Then gout strikes, and we analyze certain parts of our diet in minute detail. I’m not trying to speak for everyone. This is just my view, and my experience.

I lived life at 100mph. Like Patrick, I drank lots of Diet Coke. I wasn’t trying to kid myself it was healthier than regular soda. I just hate the taste of sugary drinks. When I look back now, that Diet Coke was probably one of the healthiest parts of my diet. Then the gout devil bit me, so I stopped soda and other things.

On reflection, I see where I went wrong. It’s analogy time.

Let’s take a literal 100mph drive on a 70mph road. We get stopped, fined, and we realize 100mph is wrong in those circumstances. We moderate our driving, respect the rules, and think more about safety of ourselves and other road users.

But, the knee-jerk reaction with gout, is to go from 100mph to zero.

The other name for that is “Getting nowhere”

[Gout Patient]

Diet drinks are great; it’s the fructose that is the culprit in non-diet drinks. I wondered over and over what the connection could be, and after much research I discovered that fructose is part of biochemical pathway that makes uric acid from purines. No fructose, no problem! 🙂

[Patrick]

Thanks for the replies Keith and Linda. I’ve spoken to a few doctors and all have said that Diet Coke shouldn’t have any impact on my gout, but I think it’s just easier for me to eliminate sodas altogether. I thought it would be harder than it actually has been. Substituting water has made me feel better. Maybe it a psychosematic thing, who knows but I actually feel better.

[Keith Taylor]

I discovered that fructose is part of biochemical pathway that makes uric acid from purines

Linda, do you have any references for that?

Substituting water has made me feel better. Maybe it a psychosematic thing, who knows but I actually feel better.

Patrick, there’s lots of complicated theories about that. I think, if it makes you feel better, it’s a good thing. Switching to water can’t be a bad thing. It might be marginally healthier, and if you feel better, you’re winning the battle against gout 🙂

[Keith Taylor]

Radioactive Water

As this is a popular topic, I decided to look for current research. As I expected, there are very few studies about gout and carbonated water. However, I was surprised by the following (from Drinking mineral waters: biochemical effects and health implications – the state-of-the-art in the International Journal of Environmental health):

it is suggested to drink these waters as they gush from the spring to avoid the element decay and thus the therapeutic properties decrease. […] The therapeutic property of radioactive waters seems related to the energy released by the radioactive elements that yield excitation and ionisation properties. The therapeutic uses of radioactive waters concerns the treatment of osteo-articular diseases, gout and of diuresis stimulation (Gans, 1985; Bartoli et al., 1989; Amrani and Cherouati, 1999).

[Chris Perry hepworth]

Will water prevent recurring gout attacks?

I changed my lifestyle 6 months ago, no alcohol and very little meat. My GP prescribed allopurinol and I’ve increased my water intake. However I am still getting attacks, generally, if I don’t quite make my 2 liters of water per day.

Would adding minerals to water help?

[nobody]

It’s not uncommon for gout therapies to take more than 6 months to work.
In order to say more about your situation, we’d need to know:
-your uric acid test results
-for how long you’ve had gout

Maybe try getting used to drinking a bit more water? It’s not going to hurt. That way, you’ll get enough even on the days when you don’t feel like drinking much.
You need to add stuff to water when you aren’t eating. Unless you have a terrible diet, there are enough minerals in your food.

[Keith Taylor]

Natural Soda Water Prevents Gout

I’ve added a subsection to my main page about gout and water. Because recent research suggests that natural soda water can prevent gout. But note this is a preliminary lab report. So it’s a long way from being a confirmed uric acid treatment that has been tried and tested on human gout sufferers.

[d q]

@Keith – That study is indeed interesting. What I also noticed on your http://www.goutpal.com/gout-treatment/gout-cures/home-remedies-for-gout/ page was we should check for the type of water we drink too. Since we are both based in the UK, I was wondering if you could point me in the direction in the healthiest water composition for gout (Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Bicarbonate, etc.? I’m assuming the PH should be on the alkaline side in general.

I’ll do the research on finding the best brand or place to get it.
I was after the ideal composition.

Cheers mate 🙂

[Keith Taylor]

Unfortunately, because it’s only a preliminary lab report, we cannot yet know the best composition. So, I will fall back on my old favorite – Potential Renal Acid Load (PRAL).

Note that this is calculated from protein, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. So, it’s quite easy to generate a spreadsheet for the PRAL score. Or, it is for me, if you find the basic data 🙂

Importantly, this has absolutely nothing to do with the physical pH of water. Because we are interested in finding how each water affects the pH of urine. Which we know can influence uric acid excretion rates and blood uric acid levels. Actually, I can see I need to do better cross-referencing to Kanbara’s research that proves this. But the information is there starting in the Alkaline Diet section of Mediterranean, DASH, or Alkaline Diet for Gout.

Unfortunately, current research is not gout-specific enough when it comes to individual food and drink items such natural soda water/mineral water. Because it could well be the case that bicarbonate content might differentiate water recommendations for gout. But I can only go on the current state of research. So I opt for PRAL scoring. More importantly, urine pH monitoring.

That’s got me thinking that gouties could do their own research. To do it you would have to:
1. Get baseline blood uric acid and 24-hour urine tests.
2. Drink only one type of water for 2-4 weeks.
3. Repeat blood and urine tests.
4. Continue looping 2. and 3. with different water brands.
5. Analyze the stats for correlation between water nutrients, blood uric acid, and uric acid excretion rates.

It’d probably not going to happen. Though I’ve been pleasantly surprised by members personal research in the past. However, d_q, if you want to post some nutrient data I would be happy, nay ecstatic, to turn that into a PRAL chart. 😀

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Gout and Club Soda Topic Summary
This topic covers many different types of water. So it might be better if you start a new discussion about the type of water you are most interested in. In the meantime, here is a repeat of the summary I added to the beginning of this topic:

Subject	Facts	Discussion Summary
Soda Water and Gout	Best Home Remedies For Gout: Water	Gout and Soda
Tonic Water and Gout	No specific facts page so search for tonic water	Gout and Tonic Water
Carbonated Water and Gout	Water as a Home Remedy for Gout	Can drinking club soda help my gout?
Sparkling Water and Gout	Water as a Home Remedy for Gout	Gout and Sparkling Water

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