Foods High in Uric Acid

Dietitians and nutritionists commonly measure foods high in uric acid by measuring the total purine content of food.

I have produced a table below that lists foods high in uric acid first with purine concentration reducing as you move down the list.
Many advisers tell gout sufferers to avoid anything over 400mg and restrict foods in the 100-400mg range, but you should treat this advice with caution.

Firstly, you must realize that typical portion sizes vary enormously.
Be sure to calculate the amount that applies to your typical serving size from the value shown for 100 grams.

Secondly, the effect of foods high in uric acid depends on direct absorption through the digestive tract. Most uric acid derives from the breakdown of your cells as part of normal metabolism. The overall contribution of foods high in uric acid is debatable - figures of between 5% and 15% are common.

Purines Warning

Foods High In Uric Acid Table

You should use the information in the table below only as a guideline. Many other factors, besides foods high in uric acid, affect the risk of gout attacks.
If you do feel that it is important to manage foods high in uric acid, then you should measure your total intake. Multiply the weight of your food (in grams) by the value from the table and divide this by 100 to give your uric acid intake in milligrams. In this way you can calculate a total intake from the list of foods high in uric acid for every meal. You need to find the level that you can tolerate best by trial and error.

I took the data in this table from Food Composition and Nutrition Tables by Souci, Fachmann, Kraut. Their notes for the purine data states

Purines

The total of free and bound compounds is given for each component. The "total purines" column contains the total of all individual components calculated as uric acid.
The exact calculation of this is beyond the scope of this article, but you can easily see the relative purine count in the table. Remember, the table of foods high in uric acid shows the number of milligrams per 100 grams, so intake will depend on portion size.

GoutPal warns against taking these types of analysis too seriously. Firstly, gout food research indicates that vegetable purines do not increase the risk of gout, and dairy foods can actually reduce it. More importantly, people digest foods differently - a food that causes gout in one person might be tolerated by another, and different food combinations have significantly different effects. There is more information about dealing with foods high in uric acid in my Gout Diet section.