Top 10 Foods That Controls Your Uric Acid Levels

Content

• What Is The Gout Diet And Can It Ease Gout Symptoms?
• Uric Acid, Purines And Kidney Health

You should also be sure to get 12 to 16 cups of fluid daily. If you're overweight, for example, your body produces more uric acid, and your kidneys have a more difficult time eliminating uric acid. Loads of them, from meat to alcohol to legumes to nuts to veggies like asparagus and mushrooms. Interestingly, though, not all food sources of purines are equally damaging for people with gout, which we want to make clear from the get-go. In fact, it's well-known that some very common foods containing high levels of compounds called purines contribute directly to gout flare-ups.

Is Potato good for uric acid?

Plenty of starchy carbohydrates
These may include rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, couscous, quinoa, barley or oats, and should be included at each meal time. These foods contain only small amounts of purines, so these along with fruit and vegetables should make up the basis of your meals.

If you are having a flare-up, cut out all seafood and other meats too. Candy, sports drinks, some breakfast cereal, and some pasta sauces all contribute to dietary sugar from unhealthy carbs. Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles.

What Is The Gout Diet And Can It Ease Gout Symptoms?

In addition, be aware that other popular meats such as beef and ham also contain significant amounts of purine. These foods can become even more risky when consumed in large portions. Everyone’s body has naturally occurring levels of purine but it’s also found in particular food, so by avoiding those foods through the gout diet you can limit the excess production of purine in your body. Cherry juice has surprisingly been found to decrease levels of uric acid. Incorporating cherries or cherry juice (without added sugar of course!) into the diet may help prevent disease flares.

See the chart below for the purine content of specific legumes. Flesh & Fructose Meat and sugar increase uric acid levels, which are associated with increased risk of gout, hypertension , obesity, prediabetes, diabetes, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. Alcohol itself is not high in purines, but it can make gout worse. For another, alcohol causes the body to produce more purines and therefore more uric acid.

Uric Acid, Purines And Kidney Health

Here’s a list of foods to avoid if you have gout, based on real scientific evidence. Before we can look at foods to avoid with gout, it is necessary to briefly understand what it is. The following is a list of the top 6 foods to avoid with gout, explaining what we know and how it applies to you. Wine is a better choice, but heavy drinking is a bad idea for everyone, and people who get gout are no exception, says Sandon, who is a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

Are tomatoes bad for gout?

Tomatoes have been considered a healthy food, acceptable for those with gout until reports from those with gout claimed the food triggers symptoms. Some research suggests an association between eating tomatoes and higher levels of uric acid, which is known to trigger gout.

Studies have shown that increasing a person’s intake of low-fat dairy products reduces uric acid levels—preventing the development of gout and gout attacks. Too many sweets can leave you with no room for plant-based proteins and low-fat or fat-free dairy products — the foods you need to avoid gout. Sugary foods also tend to be high in calories, so they make it easier to eat more than you're likely to burn off. Although there's debate about whether sugar has a direct effect on uric acid levels, sweets are definitely linked to overweight and obesity. Some studies have shown that drinking skim or low-fat milk and eating foods made with them, such as cheese or yogurt, help reduce the risk of gout. This is because when you drink alcohol your kidneys filter it out instead of uric acid.

That means cashews are a great snack choice for people with gout. Nuts can be high in fat, but they don’t have the same high purine level as animal-based fatty foods. About 20% of people have high uric acid levels, according to the Mayo Clinic. About two-thirds of people with high uric acid levels, however, don't experience any symptoms. To lower uric acid, you can eat more foods with lower purine levels, like cherries.

Higher intake of low-fat milk and other dairy products has been associated with decreased blood uric acid levels. Certain components of milk have uric acid-lowering and anti-inflammatory effects. Hyperuricemia or high uric acid is generally diagnosed when blood levels are 7.0 mg/dL or higher. However high uric acid is just a risk factor for gout; people can have hyperuricemia but not have gout. It’s only gout if you have symptoms and uric acid crystals in the painful joint.

Prediabetes is a condition that often leads to type 2 diabetes within several years, but making certain lifestyle choices can usually prevent type 2 diabetes. Caffeine can interfere with sleep, so it is best to avoid consuming caffeinated coffee and other caffeinated beverages within six hours of bedtime. Sources of added sugars tend to be low in nutrients and high in calories. They can include sugar-sweetened beverages, ice cream, cakes, pies, candy, other desserts, and sugar-sweetened cereal and flavored oatmeal and yogurt. Eating fresh fruit for dessert and snacks, and mixing it into oatmeal, yogurt, and cereal, can help satisfy a sweet tooth without added sugars. Most of us feel overwhelmed when it comes to healthy eating, especially if we have a medical issue.

While all beans are low-purine, pinto beans have some of the very lowest levels. Similarly, beans are known to be high-protein, but—unlike animal proteins—they don’t contain high levels of purines, so they’re perfectly safe for people worried about gout. Any fruit is a good option for people struggling with gout, because they have low purine levels and high levels of complex carbohydrates. Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, has proven to offer some benefit to gout sufferers, but most grocery story chocolate bars are not good gout diet options. Some sources will tell you that refined carbohydrates are safe for gout sufferers, but this isn’t necessarily true.

Following low-carb diets are popular for weight loss, but they might not be so good if you're prone to gout attacks. If you cut back on foods that are particularly rich in purines, you might reduce your risk of a gout attack. Gout is a painful condition that occurs when urate crystals build up in the tissues in and around your joints. Treating gout requires the care of a physician, but you can make some dietary changes that may help reduce your chances of a painful attack. How to Treat Kidney Stones with Diet Decreasing animal protein and sodium intake appears more effective in treating calcium oxalate and uric acid kidney stones than restricting calcium or oxalates. Low uric acid levels can also increase our risk of other neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and MS. Yet, high uric acid levels pose dangers as well.

If you think you may have COVID-19, use the CDC’s Coronavirus Self-Checker. Your subscription is confirmed for news related to biggest developments in health, medicine and wellbeing. A weekly guide to the biggest developments in health, medicine and wellbeing delivered to your inbox. Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive. About 2/3 of purines in the body are endogenous.1 These purines are produced by the human body and found inside its cells.