What Causes Gout? 8 Foods That Trigger Attacks

Content

• What Is The Recommended Diet For Gout Sufferers?
• Arthritis
• Avoid These Foods
• Best Foods For A Gout Diet
• Medical Links
• Choose A Diet You Can Live With

If this feels like a huge change from your current diet, take it one item at a time. For example, reduce high-fat cheese from 3 or 4 times a week to 1 time a week before cutting back on other foods. Try substituting some of your favorite dairy products with low-fat or fat-free products, such as skim milk or low-fat yogurt. Overall, a plant based diet is more likely to be beneficial than a high fat diet with a focus on meat to help stabilize uric acid levels. However, eating plant based foods that contain purines does not appear to have the same effect. The researchers add that consuming dairy products may reduce the chances of developing gout.

What Is The Recommended Diet For Gout Sufferers?

Alcohol—especially beer—is bad for gout sufferers for two reasons. First, these beverages require the kidneys to work at drawing alcohol out of the blood stream, leaving more uric acid in the blood. Alcohol reduces the elimination of uric acid from the body.

What about medicines that are derived from shellfish, such as glucosamine? Glucosamine is a supplement that may help to slow the progression of osteoarthritis, which is unrelated to gout. It is natural to wonder if taking this supplement can increase purines in the body, ultimately worsening one form of arthritis while trying to manage pain from another. Thankfully, glucosamine is derived from the exoskeletons of shellfish, while purines are found in the meat of shellfish, meaning that glucosamine will not exacerbate gout symptoms.

Arthritis

As the uric acid builds up in your body, crystals form in your joints, causing pain and inflammation. For instance, people who suffer from metabolic syndrome or who are recovering from a traumatic accident are more susceptible to gout, and gout is more prevalent in older adults. Though more men suffer from gout, women can have gout, too. Avoiding certain foods that cause an increase in uric acid can help decrease gout symptoms. Inflammation of the joints can be painful no matter what type of arthritis you have. When it starts limiting your life and keeping you from doing the activities you love, that’s when something has to be done.

Is Pizza OK for gout?

The management of gout is focused on decreasing uric acid levels. Medication can be effect at doing this, but also avoiding anything that may increase uric acid levels (or the body's ability to excrete uric acid) can be helpful as well. Carbohydrates such as bread, pizza, and pasta do not increase uric acid levels.

Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Verywell Fit's content is for informational and educational purposes only. Our website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Consistent calorie control is always key to weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight.

Purine intake from animal sources – such as red meat, organ meat, and various fish and shellfish—was shown to increase the likelihood of a recurrent gout attack by up to five times. The impact of purines from animal sources persisted across designated subgroups including age, alcohol use, and use of medications (e.g. NSAIDs, allopurinol). It is unclear whether purines derived from plant sources have less of an impact, or these diets simply tend to contain less purine rich plants. Lifestyle measures, such as dietary changes, can help lower levels of uric acid, the chemical that deposits in joints and causes gout. However, for most people, changes in diet alone are not enough to prevent gout. To reduce uric acid levels enough to stop attacks, medication is usually needed.

These therefore should be limited during episodes of a gout attack and portion size should be reduced. As they are broken down during digestion, your body produces uric acid. Thus, people who suffer from gout are encouraged to eat fewer purines in order to lower their uric acid levels and prevent gout attacks.

The healthy influence is stronger when you choose low-fat dairy options, such as 1% milk and low-fat cottage cheese. Eating dairy helps your body eliminate uric acid, as shown in several trials. Pseudogout Pseudogout, a form of arthritis, results when deposits of crystals collect in and around the joints. Symptoms of pseudogout include pain, stiffness, warmth, and joint swelling of the knees, ankles, hips, shoulders, and/or wrists. Treatment for pseudogout aims to decrease inflammation through the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, ice, and rest.

Gout is a form of arthritis that happens when the uric acid levels in your blood get too high. Commonly affected joints include your big toe, ankles, elbows, knees, wrists, and fingers. Alcohol can raise the level of uric acid in your blood and contribute to a gout attack. But you don’t need to give up your favorite drink, especially if it’s wine.

Uric acid that comes from high-purine foods, however, only makes up about 15 percent of the uric acid in your body. The rest is found naturally in your body’s tissues, and your genes play a big role in determining how much uric acid your body creates. It’s extremely unlikely, say experts, to manage gout strictly through diet changes — that’s why medication is crucial. Gout Quiz Learn what causes those painful crystals to form during a gout flare. Take the Gout Quiz to learn all about this painful arthritic condition.

Organ meat—like sweetbreads, liver, kidney, tongue, and heart—are especially high in purine, and should be avoided to prevent gout attacks. Drinking plenty of fluids, particularly water, can help remove uric acid from the body and prevent crystals from forming in the joints. Gout sufferers should aim to drink around 8 glasses of non-alcoholic fluids per day.

Just Tell Me What To Eat!

Yeast extract can sometimes be found in foods, such as some soy sauces, canned soups and stews, frozen dinners, and salty snacks. A study looking at the effect of wine on gout found that wine, when consumed with meals and in moderation, did not cause chronic hyperuricemia. Moderate wine consumption is considered one 5-ounce drink per day for women and two 5-ounce drinks per day for men. Fatty fishes, such as tuna and salmon, are generally considered a healthy, nutritious addition to the diet, mostly due to the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids they contain.

Although this is not a cure, it lowers the risk of experiencing a gout attack. Seafood and shellfish are high in purine and should be avoided to reduce the risk of gout flare. Gout is caused by the buildup of uric acid crystals in the joints. Uric acid is the result of a breakdown of purines, which is a substance found naturally in body tissues and many foods. For most people, uric acid dissolves in the blood and travels out of the body in urine.

Fish, which contains omega-3 fatty acids, is part of a healthy diet. People with gout don't have to steer completely clear of fish. But try to limit the amount of shellfish, sardines, and anchovies you eat, because they have the highest amounts of purines. A better choice is flaky white fish, such as cod, tilapia, or flounder. Studies say that acute attacks of gout are often triggered by overindulgence in alcohol. Beer increases your uric acid levels and makes it harder for your body to clear uric acid from its system.