For people planning a diet for gout sufferers, my nutrition tables have been very useful.

It is essential that a gout diet is planned in entirety, starting with an analysis of existing food and drink intake. From this, it is possible to find strengths and weaknesses and create a plan for gradual changes so that diet can be improved without sudden changes. This helps avoid sudden changes in uric acid that can trigger a gout attack.

However, my nutrition tables have been added in a piecemeal fashion over the years, and fall short of the comprehensive guide to improving diet for gout sufferers that I wish to present. During my current phase of reorganizing and improving this gouty arthritis website, I will start the process of providing better gout diet information. This is a long-term project, that will start with some simplified tables over the next week or so, and end with a separate website for analyzing and monitoring your complete gout diet.

Diet For Gout Sufferers: New Food Tables

My new food tables will condense data from existing PRAL and purine tables, and add some much-needed data on iron content. For now, I will retain the split by USDA food group, but part of my gout diet project will be to provide better grouping, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper or meat & fish, fruit & veg etc.

You can see the list of tables below, but first let me explain some key points about using the tables.

• The tables are still based on nutrition values per 100g. This does not suit many foods such as condiments, sweeteners, etc, but it is fairly easy to divide the table values for smaller portions, or multiply them for larger portions.
• The tables present exact values, but seasonal variations and cooking methods will cause the values to change, so treat the numbers as a guideline, not a precise measuring tool.
• I will move the existing tables to a new website, which will become the focus for new nutrition tools. I will be heavily influenced by your feedback and your interest in these new tools, so please support my new food diary project.
• The tables work best when used to analyze your existing diet and to help choose between two or more food choices. They should not be used to find foods to avoid, or to find foods to eat exclusively. This can lead to a very restricted food range, which is not usually good for you, as it can lead to a shortage of some essential nutrients. You should read Sensible Gout Diet Restrictions before looking at any of these food tables.

Diet For Gout Sufferers: Important Nutrition Values

Calories

Calories are only important for gout if you are overweight or obese, though maintaining a healthy weight is always a good policy. Restricting calorie intake and increasing gentle exercise has been shown to reduce uric acid levels, but this will depend on your personal circumstances.

Iron

Excess iron, common in males with a typical Western diet, will increase your chances of gout, and reducing iron has been shown to reduce uric acid and gout attacks. Reducing iron in the blood through diet restrictions is a very slow process, compared to reducing iron and uric acid by blood donation, but every small step in the right direction is a wise one.

PRAL

I’ve split PRAL (Potential Renal Acid Load) values between negative, alkaline producing, and positive, acid producing, foods. You should aim at 20-30% acid-producing foods, with an overall total for each meal as a negative, alkaline producing value. Whilst PRAL values give a good guide, the only way to truly measure the alkalizing effect of your diet is to test urine for pH value. Aim for 6.5 to 7, and after a few months consider trying for pH 7.5
(phbalance.wikispaces.com/pH+Readings).
Do not confuse these acid values with uric acid – they are completely separate. Negative PRAL values will increase your urine pH which will reduce your risk of developing urate kidney stones – a common problem for some gout sufferers. Please see the alkalizing gout diet menu pages for more information.

Purines

Up until 2004, purines were considered a vital part of gout diet management, but their importance is now limited to animal purines. In the tables, I only show purine content in relevant food groups, but I advise you not to try and avoid purines totally. A purine-free diet is very boring, and you are unlikely to stick with it. Much better to reduce portion sizes, and balance the meal with some uric acid lowering proteins such as milk.

Diet For Gout Sufferers: Next Steps

To stay informed about my food table reorganization and new tools for monitoring and analyzing your gout diet, please subscribe to my free update service.

And please encourage your friends, and any contacts you have in medicine, healthcare, or nutrition, to do the same. Thank you.…

Alkaline foods raise more controversy than they are worth.

People swear they are the holy grail of health – a magic cure for gout and every other health problem in the world.

Skeptics swear back: “You’re wasting your *#@!$&! time.

It’s time for us to see the real truth behind alkaline diet and gouty arthritis.

Myth 1: Alkaline Foods Turn Red Litmus Blue

Despite my best efforts to explain otherwise, people still believe that you can measure the power of alkaline foods by testing their pH. There are even lists of alkaline foods touted round the Internet that show the pH value for common foods. But these have nothing to do with the alkalizing effect, so why do they exist?

They stem from a US government table of pH values produced for the canning industry. Whilst they might help food packagers determine what balancing agents they need to avoid food reacting with it’s container, these values have absolutely nothing to do with the effect of food on our bodies.

The science of alkaline foods recognizes that elements and compounds in food cause different reactions in our body when digested. Some elements, e.g. proteins and phosphorous produce acidic salts. Other elements, e.g. potassium, magnesium and calcium, produce alkaline salts. These salts end up at our kidneys, where they alter the pH environment. This process has resulted in the Potential Renal Acid Load (PRAL) calculation, which is an approximate estimate of the effect of foods on the acidity/alkalinity of our bodies. Or more specifically, of urine, as this is the measurable result.

Still, people remain confused as to how an acidic food item, like lemons or vinegar, can have an alkalizing effect on urine and the kidneys. As I explained recently:

… it’s because the acids, e.g. citric acid in lemons and acetic acid in vinegar, are very weak acids. The alkalizing components in the fruits do not register on a pH test, or our taste buds. This all changes as we digest the food, and the alkalizing components combine with acid compounds in or bodies, thus reducing the acid load at the kidneys.

In fact, the only reliable way to test the value of alkaline foods is to measure the pH of urine, but beware of the obsession that leads to the second myth.

Myth 2: I Must Max Alkaline Foods For Best Health

Those who understand the previous myth about the pH of food, easily fall foul of the second myth. Persuaded as they are that alkalizing foods have a positive health benefit, they plan their gout diet solely from alkalizing food lists, avoiding anything that might have an acidifying effect.

This is wrong.

The compounds that we excrete in urine are a complex mixture of acid and alkaline salts that represent the end product of various aspects of our metabolism. Typical diets commonly produce acid urine. This is increasingly seen as a general health risk, with a specific risk for gout sufferers, as we will soon see. But it is wrong to dismiss all acid foods as bad, and all alkaline foods as good.

In fact, we need to balance acid and alkaline producing foods to ensure we get a sufficient range of nutrients, with the overall balance being alkaline.

Myth 3: Alkaline Foods Neutralize Uric Acid

Uric acid is a very weak acid, and causes no discomfort as a liquid component of blood. However, as it’s concentration increases, it will form crystals. These crystals are attacked by the immune system, in a similar way to the attack on viruses and other foreign matter that enters our bodies.

The alkalizing affect of food has little or no influence on this process. Though uric acid crystals are less soluble in alkaline conditions, an alkaline diet does not change the pH of blood, or at least not in any significant way.

The specific benefit of alkaline food for gouty arthritis sufferers is that alkalizing urine significantly reduces the risk of uric acid stones forming in the kidneys, bladder and associated tubes.

Read more about alkaline foods in the Gout Diet Help section.…