As an anecdote, I'd say, 85% of patients in my clinic with pain in the back, limbs and joints, blame beans and its relatives - peanuts, mongo, the like- for the predicament. Somehow, embedded in the minds of many is this notion that arthritis is one and the same, what ever body part gets painful and swollen, and that beans do it.
Truth is, there are a hundred or so conditions that cause pain in the back, limbs, and joints. One of these, is the Gout. This arthritis can be precipitated by food, -not just food, but inordinately large amounts of red meat, alcohol and beer, small fishes and shellfish and internal organs, in susceptible individuals - the obese, those with family history of gout and mostly, the male gender.
Where's the beans? Not in this new list published in 2010.
There is a small catch though. In the Philippines, high salt content in the diet, plus, the way we eat our mongo and peanuts (by the spoonful and bowl), may still be responsible for these acute attacks of painful toes, (podagra) that come after a night of beer drinking (with bowls of peanuts on the side). Never mind the steamed crabs and tiger prawns sauteed in ginger and coconut milk!
After decades of untreated gout, this may happen. So, careful.... photo borrowed with permission from the
Section of Rheumatology
UP-PGH
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