Constipation must be avoided, and the foods particularly adapted to prevent or overcome this condition should have a prominent place in the diet. Any accumulation of unabsorbed food in the lower intestines becomes a breeding ground for putrefactive bacteria, the product of whose activity imposes a serious tax upon an already overworked organ.
PROBLEMS
(a) Formulate a diet for a patient suffering from gallstones. Outline method of administration.
(b) List available foods for diets used in disturbances of the liver. List the foods to be avoided in such cases.
FOOTNOTE:
[155] “Diet in Health and Disease,” p. 399, by Friedenwald and Ruhräh.
CHAPTER XXII
GOUT, OBESITY, EMACIATION
Gout is a constitutional disease characterized by an inflammatory condition of the joints. It is caused by or associated with a retention of uric acid in the blood. Gout is also characterized by the deposit of uric acid or sodium salts which occurs in different parts of the body, the joints, the lobe of the ear, the knee and the elbow being common points where the deposit of these salts ordinarily occurs. The amount of uric acid is lessened in the urine in cases of true gout, except in acute attacks, and in this way it is distinguished from the so-called goutiness in which a urinalysis shows an excess of uric acid. According to Strouse, this excess of uric acid in the urine “means a physical-chemical change in the urine and is quite different from the small amount usually excreted.”[156]