The foods that cause gout are not simply high purine foods

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Foods that Cause Gout

The traditional view is: all high-purine foods are foods that cause gout.

Research shows that the relationship between food and gout is more complicated.

Purines

I've shown elsewhere that the cause of gout is the crystallization of uric acid which is produced when we break down purines.
Purines are a type of protein found in many foods.
Traditional dietary advice for gout sufferers is to avoid all high-purine food and limit other foods that contain medium levels of purines.

A recent study indicates that only meat and fish purines are significant in gout attacks, and eating dairy food can reduce the risks.
This is in keeping with the GoutPal philosophy of being wary of statistics and generalizations.
The human body is too sophisticated for simple analysis, and the interaction between several factors must be considered.
GoutPal always recommends that you monitor your own food intake, and this is covered in more detail in the diet section.

I don't like to get bogged down with numbers, however they can sometimes help to give general indications of what types of food to avoid or favor.
You may find it useful to compare the purine content of foods that cause gout, particularly for meat and fish.

pH values

Gout is also affected by the overall acidity or alkalinity of the body. The food that you eat will affect the pH of your body. Increasing the pH level will increase the amount of uric acid that can be dissolved in the blood. You cannot change this value much, but even a small change is very significant on the pH scale.

More importantly, a diet that alkalizes your body is beneficial to your general health. Gout improves dramatically for most people if you eat a healthy diet.

This Food Section of my website is mainly about how individual foods that cause gout affect your body. For most practical purposes, it is the combination of foods that affect gout most. I deal with this more fully in my Diet Section.

In this section I have prepared tables of different foods showing how they can affect pH in your body. This is described in detail in my introduction to acid / alkali food tables.

The tables are calculated from data from the USDA National Nutrient Database, which is split into several food groups. If you have read my introduction, and simply want to locate some food in a particular category, then this index may prove useful.

Food Group	Very Alkaline	Quite Alkaline	About Neutral	Quite Acid	Very Acid
Dairy and Egg Products	Below Average	Below Average	Above Average	Below Average	Above Average
Spices and Herbs	Above Average	Average	Below Average	Below Average	Below Average
Fats and Oils	None	Below Average	Above Average	Below Average	None
Poultry Products	None	None	None	Below Average	Above Average
Soups, Sauces, and Gravies	Below Average	Above Average	Below Average	Above Average	Below Average
Sausages and Luncheon Meats	None	None	None	Above Average	Average
Breakfast Cereals	Below Average	Below Average	Below Average	Above Average	Below Average
Fruits and Fruit Juices	Average	Above Average	None	None	None
Pork Products	None	None	None	Below Average	Above Average
Vegetables and Vegetable Products	Above Average	Above Average	Below Average	Below Average	None
Nut and Seed Products	Above Average	Above Average	None	Below Average	Above Average
Beef Products	None	None	None	Below Average	Above Average
Beverages	Above Average	Above Average	Above Average	Below Average	Below Average
Finfish and Shellfish Products	None	None	None	Above Average	Above Average
Legumes and Legume Products	Above Average	Above Average	Below Average	Average	Below Average
Lamb, Veal, and Game Products	None	None	None	Below Average	Above Average
Baked Products	None	Below Average	Below Average	Above Average	Below Average
Sweets	Below Average	Above Average	Above Average	Below Average	Below Average
Cereal Grains and Pasta	None	Below Average	None	Above Average	Below Average
Fast Foods	None	Below Average	Below Average	Above Average	Below Average
Meals, Entrees, and Sidedishes	None	Above Average	Average	Above Average	Below Average
Snacks	Above Average	Below Average	Below Average	Above Average	Below Average
Ethnic Foods	Below Average	Below Average	Average	Average	Above Average

I've also listed some of the foods according to acid / alkaline values. These are:

100 Most Alkaline Foods: If you want to alkalize your body, there is no better place to look than the 100 most alkaline foods list. Great for managing your health. Great for managing your gout.
100 Most Acid Foods: Think you can avoid food high in acid by pH testing your food? Think again. Acidifying foods only produce acid after they have been digested. You need this PRAL table to see which are the most acid.

Please remember that my Acid-Alkali grading is arbitrary. It will help you to focus on particularly acid or alkali forming food. You must eat a good variety from different food groups. The overall effect on your pH can vary, and regular testing is the best way to ensure that your food choices are helping you avoid combinations of foods that cause gout.

Latest On Foods That Cause Gout And Other Gouty News

Here are some recent gout headlines.

The Gout news headlines shown above are provided courtesy of Medical News Today and are subject to the terms and conditions stated on the Medical News Today website.

Gout News from Medical News Today

October 2009 Gout News
GoutCaster is getting bigger and better.
If you are a subscriber, you will get the details very soon.
If not, please subscribe at the gout news page.

There's usually plenty of discussion about foods that cause gout and all the latest gout news at Gout Pal Interactive.I summarize all the latest gout news in GoutCaster, my Friendly, Gouty Newsletter.

Research about foods that cause gout

In March 2004 the results of a 12 year study into gout and diet was published by Hyan K Choi and others. This research - "Purine-Rich Foods, Dairy and Protein Intake, and the Risk of Gout in Men" covered over 47,000 men. It reached the conclusion: -

"Higher levels of meat and seafood consumption are associated with an increased risk of gout, whereas a higher level of consumption of dairy products is associated with a decreased risk. Moderate intake of purine-rich vegetables or protein is not associated with an increased risk of gout."

There is a great deal of commentary and opinion about this report on the Internet. You will see lots of this commentary if you copy the title shown in bold above, including the quotes, into a search engine.

The GoutPal view is that it represents a significant insight into the effects of diet on gout. Purines are not the most important aspect of gout diet. In fact, they probably have very little effect at all.

The chemistry of the human body is too complicated to make simple generalizations. You must review your own dietary intake and lifestyle and make appropriate choices.

This Food Section helps you determine what is in food. My Diet Section helps you plan your lifestyle, neutralizing the effects of foods that cause gout.

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Foods That Cause Gout Page Created: Before 2008 - Last Reviewed: 24^th October 2009