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Your diet and gout

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Gout is one of the most painful forms of arthritis and having too much uric acid in your body causes it. Most of the uric acid in your body is produced by your body naturally. The rest comes from your diet, often in the form of purines. Purines are substances in animal and plant foods that your body converts to uric acid.

If you can’t flush the uric acid out your body (through your kidneys), it can build up in the bloodstream and be deposited into your joints. These crystals cause the severe inflammation and intense pain of a gout attack.

Research suggests that eating the right food can help to reduce the symptoms. Here's what to avoid and what to enjoy.

Manage gout with your diet 

  • Water. Drink at least 6 glasses per day and make sure that you have one of the glasses before you go to sleep. It helps to get rid of uric acid.
  • Tofu (bean curd). Use as protein source. Research suggests that it increases uric acid secretion.
  • Macronutrients. Diet should be relatively high in carbohydrate (like bread, rice and pasta), moderate in protein (e.g. tofu) and low in fat.
  • Alcohol. Limit how much alcohol you're drinking. Total abstinence may be required in severe cases.
  • Body weight. Maintaining or losing some weight could prove helpful.

Foods with a high purine content
If you have gout, you shouldn't eat the foods included in this list as they are high in purines: 

  • Anchovies
  • Brains
  • Consommé
  • Goose
  • Gravy
  • Heart
  • Herring
  • Kidney
  • Mackerel
  • Meat extracts
  • Mincemeat
  • Mussels
  • Roe
  • Sardines
  • Yeast (baker’s and brewer’s, taken as supplement)

Foods with a moderate purine content
These foods contain 9 to 100 mg of purine nitrogen per 100 g of food. One serving of meat, fish or poultry (90 g) or one serving of vegetables (1/2 cup) from this group, is allowed per day, depending on how severe your condition is:

  • Asparagus
  • Dried beans
  • Lentils
  • Meat, fish and poultry (except the above-mentioned)
  • Mushrooms
  • Dried peas
  • Shellfish
  • Spinach

Foods with a low purine contentThese foods may be used daily:

  • Bread (white) and crackers
  • Butter or margarine (in moderation)
  • Cake and cookies
  • Carbonated beverages
  • Cereals
  • Cheese
  • Chocolate
  • Coffee
  • Cream (in moderation)
  • Custard
  • Eggs
  • Fats (in moderation)
  • Fruit
  • Gelatin desserts
  • Herbs
  • Ice cream
  • Milk
  • Noodles
  • Nuts
  • Oil
  • Olives
  • Pickles
  • Pasta
  • Popcorn
  • Puddings
  • Relishes
  • Rice
  • Salt
  • Sugar and sweets
  • Tea
  • Vegetables (except those mentioned in the first group)
  • Vinegar

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