My mother in law had gout and uric acid problems, and she always told me what foods she would avoid to lessen her chances of a bad episode of gout.These were foods rich in purine and alcohol. Now that I have older children, the concern for health problems being passed on to them has arisen.Of the many conditions she suffered from, gout was on the list, so I did a little research so that I could better understand should the need arise for me to include this in a hereditary list of ailments to present to our doctor.My research basically found that small amounts of uric acid is normally found in humans and is waste produced by dying cells that release purines, your body can also absorb purines from food.When there is too much uric acid in your blood then a condition called hyperuricemia occurs.If a person has hyperuricemia for many years usually more than 20 years then too much excess uric acid gets stored all through the person's body and then it's possible for the uric acid to crystallize into sodium urate.Then what can happen is that the crystals can accumulate in the persons joints which then sets them up for a painful attack of gout.It becomes necessary for the person to lower their uric acid levels which will help to prevent getting sick from the symptoms of hyperuricemia and gout.Your doctor will work with you to help It is important to work with your physician to monitor your gout and your uric acid level.All you need to do is have your physician give you a blood test to measure your serum uric acid level.Sometimes medication will be needed to lower your uric acid level. It is also important to change bad lifestyle habits that may be causing gout episodes.If a person is over weight or obese, like if your body fat is not in scale with your height, then they are up to four times more likely to get gout than someone who is of a fairly normal weight.So watching your weight is an important lifestyle change even if you don't have gout yet.Keeping weight down will also keep your bloodpressure under control and lessen your chances for heart disease.Research is being performed to try to determine if kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, hypertension may be triggered by high uric acid levels.