The foods that cause gout are not simply high purine foods
Foods that cause gout was the old introduction to my acid alkaline food charts. These are too detailed for a gout website, and so I have moved them to a food diary website, where people interested in investigating nutrition can get more specific and personal diet support.I now use this topic to explain how bad eating habits can make your entire diet foods that cause diet.
As there are relevant facts that are useful to gout sufferers in the old page, I republish it here in the latest format. In future, I will move the points covered below into more relevant parts of the Gout Diet pages. I have included a subscription form at the end of this article, so that you can stay informed about these changes, and other information that is relevant to gout sufferers and their carers.
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. As I mentioned, these tables are now on my separate food diary website (links below).
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.
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.
Leave this old Foods That Cause Gout page to read the latest pages
Foods That Cause Gout Links
- Foods That Cause Gout blog
- The foods that cause gout blog keeps you informed about eating habits, & how they affect gouty arthritis. See if you eat right.
- Old Foods That Cause Gout acid alkaline food charts
- Foodary acid-alkaline food charts make it easy to choose the right foods. This intro explains all.
- Main Foods That Cause Gout page
- What are the foods that cause gout? All foods can be bad for gout if you eat the wrong way. See if your eating habits help gout.
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