As you know, gout is a form of arthritis, caused by too much uric acid present in the bloodstream. When this condition exists for long enough, the uric acid can crystallize within the joints. You probably also know that your diet is a major influence on both the causation of gout, and also on ways to reduce the likelihood of any further gout attacks.
Before we go any further, it’s essential to say that obesity is also a major cause of gout; or, more accurately, it certainly makes existing gout worse. Therefore if you are obese, or indeed “merely” overweight, slowly losing weight will not only help to reduce the levels of uric acid in your blood, but it will also quite obviously reduce the load that your joints have to bear.
Having said that, crash dieting is a seriously bad idea, as it can actually increase uric acid levels in the bloodstream and temporarily trigger attacks of gout which can be very painful. Everything should be done in moderation: the best way to deal with gout is a combination of healthy eating and regular physical exercise.
The Ideal Gout Diet
Foods To Avoid With Gout
Since purines are the cause of gout, the obvious answer is to avoid foods that contain high purine content. High purine foods include many types of meat, but especially organ meats such as liver, kidneys, sweetbreads and heart. Game is also particularly high in purines: this would include meats such as pheasant and venison and rabbit.
Seafood is a notorious source of purines, but besides mussels, crab and shrimps, there are ordinary fish which have a high level of purines: the suspects here include herring, mackerel, sardines, sprats, and fish roe. You may be surprised to learn that foods which contain yeast also have a high level of purine, so Marmite, for example, is a food to avoid with gout. You probably also know that beer and many types of alcoholic drink are not good gout “foods”.
Strangely enough a number of vegetables also contain high quantities of purines: mushrooms, mycoproteins such as Quorn, asparagus, cauliflower, soybeans, some lentils, and spinach are also reasonably high in purines and are therefore gout foods that should be eaten in moderation.
The best way to deal with gout foods such as these is to eat those which are lower in purines: for example, milk and eggs and cheese. Most of us in the Western world consume far more protein than is required — you may be surprised to learn, for example, that an average man requires only 70 grams of protein daily.
This is roughly equal to a chicken breast, one egg and half a pint of milk. So you can easily get your full protein requirements in a diet for gout, while ensuring that you don’t eat foods containing high levels of purines. Even so, you can incorporate small amounts of meat and fish in your diet to ensure you get the nutrient value they offer. Advice on a balanced diet.
Good And Bad Gout Foods
Now, I don’t want to lead you to believe that only high purine foods will trigger gout. If you speak to anybody who has experience of gout, you will know that individual metabolism varies, so you may find other foods — strawberries, oranges, tomatoes, and nuts are often mentioned in this context — may promote an attack of gout in you. There’s no clear indication of why this happens, but when you get the sense that certain gout foods are triggering an attack, then you should obviously avoid them.
Diet For Gout – The Good Gout Foods
The good news is that science has now confirmed that cherries are indeed a good gout food – in the sense that they can help to prevent attacks. Furthermore, it appears that a diet rich in dairy products (preferably low fat or zero fat versions) offers some degree of risk reduction around the possibility of developing gout.
Other compounds and substances which seemed to help include vitamin C. it appears that when you take vitamin C supplements, you reduce the risk of developing gout because vitamin C seems to assist the kidneys in removing uric acid from the body. However, high doses are required – in the order of 500 mg to 1000 mg per day – and you must consult with your doctor before you take these supplements because vitamin C can interfere with some prescription medications.
Overall, you need to limit your purine intake to about 200 mg a day: you can get an idea of what this means from the table elsewhere on this page.
As you know, dietary recommendations these days are always about eating a balanced diet. What this means in practice is that you should consume plenty of fruit and vegetables, plenty of wholemeal bread, wholegrain cereals, and starchy vegetables. Your intake of meat and fish should be limited, and so should your intake of milk and dairy products.
While people with gout often try and avoid food with a high purine content, the truth is that a balanced diet is essential for good health for everyone, and by ensuring that your diet for gout include moderate amounts of the correct gout foods, you don’t have to endure a dreary diet.
