Gout is not a health issue limited to older people, it can also occur in teenagers, and managing it with diet is not the best option, doctors said.
High uric acid levels in blood, which causes gout, usually peak in men at the age of 16 or 17, and remain unchanged or increase only slightly afterward, Taiwan Rheumatology Association director Tsai Wen-chan (蔡文展) said, adding that there have been cases of gout in teenagers.
Increased risk of obesity from a poor diet and lack of exercise could cause gout in teenagers, and the chance of reoccurrence among gout patients is high at 85 percent, he said.
Some people with gout might believe that changing their diet could cure the disease or they might simply rely on pain killers to manage it without taking other medication, he said.
However, diet affects only 20 percent of uric acid levels, making medical treatment necessary, he added.
The primary treatment for the disease involves using ice packs or anti-inflammatory pills to alleviate pain caused by acute gout attacks, while medication that breaks down uric acid and a healthy lifestyle are needed if levels remain high over the long term, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital rheumatology doctor Yu Kuang-hui (余光輝) said.
A healthy lifestyle includes diet adjustments to avoid food that poses a higher health risk, such as meat, seafood and alcohol, whereas carrots, mushrooms, broccoli and beans are recommended, Yu said.
Drinking enough water and maintaining a healthy body weight are also important, he added.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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