Purine Rich Foods

Purine rich foods are often said to be the bane of every gout sufferers life.

We are often advised to avoid them completely, or reduce our purine intake.

But do our advisers really understand what they are talking about?

Gout is the only disease for which purines are important, and hundreds of different purine tables have been published. But, none of them make sense in relation to gout.

We know how purines affect gout, so publishing tables of every food that contains even the slightest trace of purines is pointless. If not pointless for reasons of completeness, it is certainly pointless for planning a gout diet. In fact, for gout diet planning, it is vital to only focus on those purines that are going to make a difference.

Scientists have known for decades that there are different kinds of purines, and that each has a different action when taken as part of your diet. This involves complicated processes that can vary from person to person, so even the best analysis of relevant purine rich foods can only produce an estimate that should be confirmed with uric acid blood tests.

Zollner’s analysis of purine metabolism suggests that xanthine and hypoxanthine are the most effective purines for increasing uric acid. I refer to these as “Gout Purines” and I have restricted the purine rich foods table to those compounds.

Recent research from Japan describes the purine content of more foods. I will use that information to extend and improve the Purine Rich Food Table below. I have started to list these foods at Is Very Low Purine Gout Diet Possible. My review of purine food charts is coming soon. Please subscribe to my update service below to get email notification when I upgrade my purine food charts.

Purine Rich Foods Table

Food 100g	Kcal	Iron mg	Xan- thine mg	Hypo- xan- thine (mg)	Gout Purines (mg)	Protein (g)	PRAL
ANCHOVY	101	4.90	6	82	88	20	12
COD	77	0.32		66	66	18	8
HADDOCK	77	0.61		95	95	18	8
HALIBUT	95	0.55		104	104	20	7
HERRING ROE	131		7	65	72	26	8
MACKEREL SMOKED	222	1.20		94	94	21	13
MATJE CURED HERRING	267	1.30		133	133	16	14
MUSSEL	68	4.20	2	25	27	11	5
PLAICE	86	0.90		51	51	17	8
REDFISH (OCEAN PERCH)	105	0.69		149	149	18	9
SAITHE (COALFISH)	81	1.00	3	104	107	18	12
SPRAT (SMOKED)	222	0.70	16	191	207	19	11
TROUT	103	0.41	11	117	128	20	10
TUNA	226	1.00		178	178	22	8
BEEF	108	2.10	197	69	266	22	10
CALF (NECK SWEET BREAD)	99	2.00	51	91	142	17	0
CALF´S LIVER	130	7.90	65	54	119	19	13
CHICKEN	257	1.20		91	91	17	10
LAMB	117	1.60	1	99	100	21	4
LIVER SAUSAGE (LIVERWURST)	326	5.30	12	61	73	16	10
LUNCHEON MEAT	267	2.20	1	32	33	15	9
OX HEART	121	4.00	4	129	133	17	9
OX KIDNEY	113	11.00	21	150	172	17	13
OX LIVER	132	6.90	57	114	171	19	15
OX LUNGS (LIGHTS)	99	8.80	9	35	44	18	13
OX SPLEEN	100	8.90	17	54	71	19	10
PIG´S HEART	91	4.30		367	367	17	9
PIG´S KIDNEY	101	7.30	8	78	86	17	12
PIG´S LIVER	127	17.00	32	100	132	21	18
PIG´S LUNGS (LIGHTS)	114	5.00	4	79	83	14	10
PIG´S SPLEEN	102	19.00	3	75	78	17	7
PORK	105	1.00	2	93	95	22	9
SHEEP´S HEART	157	6.10	3	71	74	17	8
SHEEP´S SPLEEN	108		14	104	118	18	9
VEAL	92	2.10	11	101	112	21	10
ALCOHOL FREE BEER	25	0.02	0	1	1	0	0
BAKER´S YEAST	78	3.50	10	126	136	17	11
CHANTERELLE	11			1	1	2	-4
EDIBLE BOLETUS (FLAT MUSHROOM, CEPE)	20	1.00		7	7	5	-2
EDIBLE BOLETUS DRIED (FLAT MUSHROOM, CEPE)	124	8.40		50	50	30	-4
LIMBURGER CHEESE	184			13	13	26	12
MUSHROOM	16	1.20	1	1	2	4	-2
PILSENER LAGER BEER	42	0.01	2	2	3	1	0
REAL BEER (LIGHT)	39	0.04	2	2	4	1	0

Please note:

I took the data in this table from Food Composition and Nutrition Tables by Souci, Fachmann, Kraut^[1].
Values are for 100g. Divide by 100 and multiply by your portion size for your diet analysis.
Figures are averages of several tests – natural products will vary, and cooking methods can affect final results.
Though this is a list of purine rich foods, many foods are not high enough to worry about. You can ignore any foods that contribute less than 50 mg Uric Acid per meal. If you are not sure, please describe the ingredients of your meal in the gout forum, then I can tell you if you should ignore the purine content, or try to reduce it. If you cannot access the gout forum, please use the form at the end of this page.
Never forget that animal purines also exist in the flesh of your body. Excess flesh means more uric acid
There are other dietary problems that are worse than purines for many gout sufferers. I’ve written more about this in other pages within these gout diet guidelines

If you are serious about measuring the impact of purine rich foods in your gout diet, you must verify expected values from the tables with actual effects from your own uric acid tests.

Leave Purine Rich Foods to browse the Gout Diet Guidelines.

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