Gout Diet

Content

• Answers To Gout Diet Myths
• Watch Your Weight
• Tips For A Healthy Gout Diet
• Day 4: Thursday

People with gout who follow a gout diet generally still need medication to manage pain and to lower levels of uric acid. In addition to preventing recurrent gout attacks and certain types of kidney stones, the diet also prioritizes nutrient-rich foods and can help improve the overall quality of your diet. A low-purine diet is often recommended to manage these conditions and involves limiting animal proteins, alcohol and fructose.

Answers To Gout Diet Myths

According to the Mayo Clinic, choosing the right carbohydrates — including fruits, vegetables and whole grains — can go a long way in helping you manage gout. The diet, often with medication, can lower uric acid levels. Some people can lower their uric acid levels through diet alone. If you produce too much uric acid or your kidneys can't efficiently remove it, the levels can become too high and lead to deposits of needle-like crystals in joints.

Other foods can contribute to gout by increasing the risk of weight gain. Non-drinkers have been shown to have lower uric acid levels than those who drink beer or spirits. Uric acid levels tend to be higher in people who regularly consume sugar-sweetened drinks. Those drinking one to two sugar-sweetened soft drinks a day are almost twice as likely to have gout as those who drink only one a month. Purine is broken down in the liver, producing uric acid as a byproduct. Uric acid enters the bloodstream, travels to the kidneys and is excreted in urine.

Watch Your Weight

Here’s what you need to know about a low-purine diet, including how to follow it and how it can benefit your health. This article is based on scientific evidence, written by experts and fact checked by our trained editorial staff. Note that the numbers in parentheses (1, 2, etc.) are clickable links to medically peer-reviewed studies. This Dr. Axe content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure factually accurate information.

Other symptoms include extreme fatigue, joint pain, and running high fevers. Sometimes corticosteroid drugs can be prescribed to treat gout, but the best way to combat this disease is to get more exercise and eat a better diet. Patients often ask me about desserts, as well as entrees with rich sauces.

Gout attacks, or flares, are often extremely and suddenly painful and debilitating. Foods that you eat, and don't eat, can impact your gout by increasing or decreasing your blood uric acid levels. It is normal for the body to contain some purines at all times.

It’s very important to get uric acid levels to a healthy level and keep them there. Without proper treatment, gout flares can become more frequent, affect more joints, and lead to bone and joint damage as well as these other significant gout complications. In most people, the body produces a manageable amount of uric acid, and the kidneys eliminate any excess through the urine. In a person with gout, however, the body doesn’t have good control over the amount of uric acid in the blood. Depending on your specific needs, a combination of medication to manage gout and lifestyle changes, including a low-purine diet, can help you reach that target.

Coffee is a diuretic and therefore increases urine production. Coffee’s chlorogenic acid promotes uric acid excretion, while the chemical xanthines lower uric acid production. Once uric acid rises above 0.42 mmol/L , crystals can start to form in tissues and joints, particularly in toes and fingers. This can culminate in sudden and excruciating joint pain, called an acute gout attack.

Foods To Avoid For People With Gout

It does contain some purine, though, so consume in moderation. Salmon seems to be an exception, in that most gout sufferers don’t have a problem with it. Many wild game meats are known to be high in purines as well, such as venison, pheasant, quail, and rabbit. Second, grain alcohols—like beer, whiskey, and vodka—contain yeast, which is high in purines. Avoiding the wrong foods—and replacing them with the right ones—is easy, once you know what to look out for. And it’s definitely worth the effort if it spares you the sudden, painful swelling and tenderness that comes with gout.

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.

Organ meats such as liver, kidney, sweetbreads and brain. People with gout, however, can have a moderate intake of lean meats such as chicken and turkey. Remember that gout triggers can be individual, and what causes a flare-up for one person may not make noticeable difference to another. Have patience and keep your long-term goal of living a healthy life free of gout symptoms in mind. Therefore, you do not need to limit or avoid any vegetables on a gout-friendly diet.

What Is Gout?

Fortunately, both can be well-controlled simply by making a few modifications to your daily routine and following a low-purine diet. The gout diet is certainly not as restrictive as other diets designed to treat medical conditions, such as the diverticulitis diet or the gastritis diet. However, there are certain compromises and additions that you need to make in your diet to adhere to it. The overall aim of the gout diet is to encourage a healthier approach to eating, in order to subside symptoms. Excessive amounts of uric acid can also trouble the kidney.

Acidic foods such as tomatoes, citrus and other fruits, beans and dairy products do not necessarily lead to higher uric acid levels. People often assume they do simply because of the word “acid,” but acidic foods and uric acid are not one and the same. For a gout diet, according to the Mayo Clinic, you should also avoid food and drink that has added sugar or high-fructose corn syrup.

Day 4: Thursday

Avoid alcohol, especially beer and hard liquor such as whiskey and gin. myCigna.com gives you 1-stop access to your coverage, claims, ID cards, providers, and more. Log in to manage your plan or sign up for online access today. Medical ConditionsIf you are interested in trials for specific medical conditions, please choose those conditions here. Building a profile allows us to match you with paid medical studies in your area.

If you have an increased risk for kidney stones , it is not recommended to consume high doses of supplemental vitamin C on a regular basis. Treatment for gout often includes medications, diet modification, and lifestyle changes, such as managing weight and quitting smoking. The foods you eat can have a direct impact on gout flares. Additionally, refined carbs like white bread, cakes and cookies should be avoided. Although they are not high in purines or fructose, they are low in nutrients and may raise your uric acid levels . This article reviews the best diet for gout and what foods to avoid, backed by research.