List of Purine Rich Foods to Avoid: Gout Diet

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If you are suffering from gout, your doctor will recommend you to avoid purine rich foods. Here is the list of purine rich foods which can help you to ensure that you are following the low-purine diet correctly.

High protein intake and various purine-rich foods have long been thought to be risk factors for gout. New studies suggest that eating a low purine diet can considerably decrease your risk of suffering from an extremely painful condition called gout. Doctors are also recommends to avoid purine-rich foods to people who have gout. Gout is a very painful disease of joints that is most common in men, especially older men. Hyperuricemia is a condition which is mostly responsible for Gout. In hyperuricemia, an excess of uric acid is present in the blood. In this condition, the body will create crystals of uric acid that accumulate in the joints and cause painful gout symptoms.

List of Purine Rich Foods to Avoid: Gout Diet

Uric acid, a main cause for gout is a waste product left over from metabolism of chemical compounds called purines. Foods, which are commonly consumed by many people, contain purines. In lowering levels of uric acid, low purine diets are very helpful in the body. Generally, low purine diets will involve in reducing or cutting out foods that have high levels of purines. In the human body, purines are necessary for making amino acids, which are the basic building blocks of the human body.

Gout is considered as one of the most painful of the rheumatic conditions. It afflicts an estimated 840 out of 100,000 people, accounting for about 5 percent of all cases of arthritis. Initially, Gout affects usually the joints in the big toe. It can also affect the:

knees
wrists
Instep
ankles
heels
fingers
elbows

During an acute gout attack, finding of uric acid crystals in the joint fluid is carried out as a diagnosis of gout.

What are Purines?

Purines are nucleotide bases which are found in all of the body's cells and also in all foods. Purines supply part of the chemical structure to genes of human body and also the genes of plants and animals. Purines comprise adenine, guanine, hypoxanthine, and xanthine which are the important components of the genetic materials, DNA and RNA, and energy molecules such as ATP, GTP and coenzyme A. Relatively, a small number of foods contain concentrated amounts of purines. Foods which are high in proteins are also high in purines.

Purine-Rich Foods:

Following purine rich foods are recommended to avoid by people who suffers from gout:

Seafood: It is suggested that a healthy diet includes a lot of fish, but people who have gout should be aware that some seafood can raise levels of uric acid in the blood, and may make gout worse.
- High purine content seafood: Anchovies, codfish, haddock, herring, mackerel, mussels, sardines, scallops, trout
- Medium purine content seafood: Crab, lobster, oysters, shrimp.
Meat: Though no longer part of a common diet in the United States, organ meats, such as liver, sweetbreads, and brains, are most dangerous for those with gout.
- High purine content meat: Bacon, turkey, veal, venison
- Medium purine content meat: Beef, chicken, duck, ham, pork
Vegetables: No link have been shown by studies between high-purine vegetables and gout to the same degree as with animal-based purines, suggesting other factors than purine content also play a role. But, there are some beans that are particularly high in purines, so people with severe gout may want to avoid them.
- Purine-rich vegetables: Asparagus, dried beans (especially fava and garbanzo), mushrooms, peas, spinach, cauliflower
Beer, and other alcoholic beverages are also recommended to avoid by people who have gout. Alcohol contains low levels of purines, but drinking large amounts of alcohol can shove the level of purines higher than is healthy for people with gout.

Gout Treatment:

Purine-free diet can decrease the levels of uric acid in the blood in healthy individuals as shown in the study. A study put participants on either a low-purine diet, a medication often prescribed for those with gout, or a combination of both and it was shown that the diet led to similar reductions in uric acid levels as the medication.

Due to these factors, it is considered that a purine free diet may help to ease the symptoms and halt the development of gout. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases organizations suggest avoiding foods that have high purine content, along with beer.

Consuming diet as a means to help control hyperuricemia and gout should only be done after consultation with a doctor or medical professional. Also, consult your doctor to discontinue any medications for gout.

Balanced Diet: