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.

Purine Rich Foods

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:

  1. I took the data in this table from Food Composition and Nutrition Tables by Souci, Fachmann, Kraut[1].
  2. Values are for 100g. Divide by 100 and multiply by your portion size for your diet analysis.
  3. Figures are averages of several tests – natural products will vary, and cooking methods can affect final results.
  4. 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.
  5. Never forget that animal purines also exist in the flesh of your body. Excess flesh means more uric acid
  6. 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.


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Purine Rich Foods References

  1. Souci, Siegfried Walter, Walter Fachmann, and Heinrich Kraut. Food composition and nutrition tables. No. Ed. 6. Medpharm GmbH Scientific Publishers, 2000.

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