Northland Age
  • Northland Age home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
  • Opinion
  • Kaitaia weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northland Age

Gout sufferers - don't feel guilty about diet

By Peter Jackson
Northland Age·
28 Oct, 2019 07:19 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Pharmacist Garvin Shackleton and dispensary technician Aroha Farrington - gout sufferers can stop beating themselves up. Picture / Peter Jackson

Pharmacist Garvin Shackleton and dispensary technician Aroha Farrington - gout sufferers can stop beating themselves up. Picture / Peter Jackson

He can't wave a wand and make it go away, but Kaitaia pharmacist Garvin Shackleton has good news for gout sufferers — it's not all their fault.

"For years people have been told that they've got gout because they're eating the wrong things, be it tomatoes, red meat, seafood or drinking too much beer, but that doesn't seem to be entirely true," Mr Shackleton said.

"Diet can certainly have an effect, but as a trigger rather than a cause. We now know that diet is about 20 per cent of the problem. The other 80 per cent is genetic."

The level of uric acid in the blood, which at high levels could lead to the formation of crystals, causing often debilitating pain in the joints (especially the toes, knees, elbows, wrists and fingers), could be reduced with medication, but gout, he said, was a long-term condition, and freedom from pain did not mean it had gone away.

And, long-term, it could be a precursor for seriously life-shortening conditions including kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

All that and more would be explained at Te Ahu in Kaitaia next month (Thursday November 28, starting at 5.30pm), Mr Shackleton said, at a presentation hosted by Mahi Tahi (the Northland PHO), where Stuart Selkirk and others would provide the latest information, and offer free uric acid tests.

"There's a lot that can be done to ease the pain of gout, which is actually a form of arthritis, but there still a lot we don't know," he added.

"That includes why Māori and Pasifika are are the most susceptible people in the world, and why Māori in the Far North seem to be the most susceptible of all. Nor is it clear why men are vastly more prone to gout than women, although some women do suffer from it."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Everyone would be welcome at Te Ahu on November 28, and to have their uric acid tested to establish whether they had any cause for concern, or were in need of treatment.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northland Age

Northland Age

'Public safety at risk': Guns, cannabis found in Kaitāia raid

Northland Age

Prisoners gain skills building homes for families in need

Northland Age

Far North news in brief: NRC weed workshops, 64 sika deer culled


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northland Age

'Public safety at risk': Guns, cannabis found in Kaitāia raid
Northland Age

'Public safety at risk': Guns, cannabis found in Kaitāia raid

Police found three .22 rifles, a shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle at a Kaitāia house.

16 Jul 10:53 PM
Prisoners gain skills building homes for families in need
Northland Age

Prisoners gain skills building homes for families in need

16 Jul 07:00 PM
Far North news in brief: NRC weed workshops, 64 sika deer culled
Northland Age

Far North news in brief: NRC weed workshops, 64 sika deer culled

16 Jul 04:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northland Age e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to The Northland Age
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northland Age
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP