Use a low purine gout diet to reduce uric acid levels
This page about a low purine gout diet was last reviewed or updated on 19 December 2011. A low purine gout diet will help reduce uric acid levels. There is a definite connection between gout and purines and gout and uric acid. This is because uric acid is made when purines from food and beverages, and in the liver, are broken down. Uric acid then enters the bloodstream. Since reducing the body’s supply of uric acid is one way of tackling the excess uric acid problem, (hyperuricemia), reducing the intake of purine rich food and beverages with a low purine gout diet contributes to a reduction of uric acid levels. But it’s important to understand that most uric acid in our bodies (75-80%) is made in the liver from purine molecules of DNA and RNA. And you need to understand that removing uric acid from the body is generally just as important as reducing its supply. The contribution of a low purine gout diet is not that significant but helpful. Nevertheless, a low purine gout diet is important. It may reduce blood levels of uric acid by 1-2mg/dL. In some cases this would be enough to be a natural cure for gout. People who, for whatever reason, wish to, or must avoid drug medications will need to consider the purines content of foods very carefully because diet is critical if you attempt a natural cure for gout without drug medications. All gout sufferers in fact should consider their diet very carefully but avoid crash diets since they can trigger gout. Drug medication avoiders will need a low purine gout diet, but purines shouldn’t, and can't, be avoided completely. People taking drugs to lower uric acid supply (such as allopurinol) may take a more relaxed view, but nevertheless should avoid high purine foods and eat medium ones in moderation. URIC ACID TEST KITS As well as uric acid tests at hospitals and diagnostic centres, you can buy uric acid test kits to test your blood uric acid levels at home or when travelling. Have their results confirmed by a hospital lab, diagnostic centre or doctors' surgery. They work in a similar manner to the blood glucose test meters you see in pharmacies. i.e. a tiny drop of blood from the side of fingertips or an ear lobe is placed on a test strip which is inserted into the meter. Results are displayed on an LCD screen in about 30 seconds.If you use these meters, follow the manufacturer's instructions carefully.
Arctic Medical in Britain (see the link at the end of this paragraph) sell a uric acid meter called UASure.(Photo above). It is made in Taiwan. Its accuracy and precision compared well in comparative tests with laboratory uric acid test equipment and it's recommended for use by healthcare professionals. Arctic Medical can ship world wide, including to the United States and Canada. I mention this because many countries (including at present I think the U.S.) don't have a distributor for the UASure.
Discuss results regularly with your gout health care professional.
It is surprising, especially to those who have never heard of uric acid or purines before, that some foods usually considered to be very healthy are high purine ones. These are herrings, (so that means kippers too), sardines and anchovies, all of which are high in desirable heart healthy and anti inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, but also high in purines. If you like these fish, you'll have to eat them very moderately. Also high purine are liver (from any animal) and pâtés; terrines; liver sausage. Other high purine foods include: consommé; broth; anchovy sauce and paste; meat extracts, for example stock cubes, essence of chicken, (widely sold in the Far East), and Bovril; meat gravies from powders and granules; other offal (organ meat) from any animal, for example kidneys, sweetbreads, oxtail, spleens, and hearts; goose; game (pheasants, grouse, partridges, venison (aka deer meat), rabbits, hares, quail etc; and haggis, (except vegetarian haggis which would not be high purine). More high purine fish Fish roe, (includes caviar but caviar is probably medium purine); mussels; scallops; trout; tuna; pilchards, (very similar fish to sardines); sprats; whitebait; taramasalata. Lobsters and their relative, crayfish (crawfish, crawdad, yabby), have been listed as both high and medium (lobsters) or high and low (crayfish) purine. A visitor to this website reported a gout attack after eating crayfish (crawfish). Shrimps and shrimp paste (its various names include bagoong) are probably medium but might be high. Others Bakers' yeast (bakers' yeast is high purine but bread is not); brewers yeast and products made from it such as Marmite, Vegemite and Cenovis; mincemeat (the filling in Christmas mince pies). All these must be avoided completely on a low purine gout diet. And yes, sorry to say - and you've guessed it - alcoholic beverages are also high purine - beer is the alcoholic drink reckoned to be highest in purines. Foods we strongly suspect are high purine, but which do not appear on purines foods' lists. Lampreys - and lamperns, a small lamprey. Lampreys are an eel-like freshwater and sea water fish, much eaten in medieval times. Today they are popular in some continental European countries. eg. France, Spain, Portugal. Beware! You might be offered them on holiday (vacation). They can be found in at least one British river - The Severn, but are an endangered species; Smelts (Fish). MEDIUM PURINE FOODS Fish (other than those named and listed above); legumes (beans, including soybeans, peas); other meats such as beef, lamb, pork, venison, chicken, veal and turkey; tripe; mushrooms; other shellfish than those listed above; spinach; asparagus; lentils. LOW PURINE FOODS Eggs, (and egg whites); fruit, including berries; milk, butter, cheese, yoghurt (yogurt), cream, ice cream; potatoes; vegetables (other than those in medium purine foods); grain products such as bread, crackers, pasta, noodles, spaghetti, rice; nuts and seeds; cakes, biscuits (cookies), most cereals; olives; vinegar; cooking oils and fats; sugar; chocolate; pickles from vegetables e.g. piccalilli and other pickles; kimchi. Foods we strongly suspect are low purine, but which do not appear on purines foods' lists:
Whey, and whey protein powder,
because milk from which whey is made as a by-product of cheese making is low purine. Cranberries, because other berries such as gooseberries, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are all low purine. But cranberries are probably not a good food for gout.
Read why here.
How do you deal with medium purine levels? High purines foods have to be avoided and low purine foods are OK unless you binge on them. But what about medium purines foods? Much depends on your degree of hyperuricemia (excess uric acid), if you have hyperuricemia.(Remember that curious fact that not all gout sufferers have hyperuricemia?). Another depends on how well your low purine gout diet works. One gout and purines dietary approach to medium level foods would be to eat them every other day, and never have more than 4ozs (113g). Once you are on a low purine gout diet of whatever intensity, subsequent uric acid tests of blood and urine levels, will tell how well your uric acid reduction programme (program) is working, and whether changes need to be made. Constructing such a diet is not difficult unless you have to lose weight. The gout foods to avoid - liver, offal, a few kinds of fish and shellfish, meat extracts and the others in the high purine category above - are easily avoided since most have similar substitutes. If you like gravies, there are other ways of making gravies - the original methods, found in many cookery books and on the Internet, without using gravy powders or granules.
Click to our low purine food page to read how, and view a couple of videos.
We have focused here on those foods which lists usually agree about. You can easily research this further on the Internet. Use the search box below, or use it to find other references on this site to purines and uric acid.
If you live in the continental United States or Anchorage, Alaska you can have your uric acid level tested as part of the Chemistry and Complete Blood Count (CBC) Blood Test at Life Extension.com. Results of the other tests included in this package will be very useful to know. The Lipid profile tests for example, are used at the beginning of any diet which attempts to lower uric acid especially if insulin resistance is considered the cause of high uric acid. Read our sections on the Zone diet and the Atkins diet. Click on the banner below and enter uric acid into the search box (top right of the page).
Read our low purine gout diet visitor testimonials page
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