Foods to Avoid When You Have Gout

Gout is a form of arthritis where intense pain is experienced due to the formation of crystallized uric acid deposits on the joints throughout the body. These crystallized formations cause irritation and inflammation that can last for quiet some time and in many cases is most severe at night or during periods of rest where activity levels are low.

There are certain types of food that can increase the risk of experiencing gout symptoms. One particular food group that can do so is meats. Meats, especially those which are high in fat content, contain higher levels of purines which when consumed can lead to the build up of uric acid within the body. When the body is unable to process and remove the elevated amounts of uric acid from the body, crystallized deposits can begin to form.

Seafood is another type of food that is known to be high in purines. It too can lead to the buildup of uric acid crystal deposits on the joints of the body if too much is consumed. This is another type of food that should be avoided or at least consumed at a minimum if you want to prevent or reduce gout symptoms.

One thing worth noting is that there are foods which contain elevated levels of purines but do not seem to cause or increase gout symptoms. Some of these foods include cauliflower, beans, spinach, mushrooms, and many others. Foods that can help lower the risk of experiencing gout symptoms include the items mentioned above as well as low fat dairy items.

As far as foods to avoid when you have gout goes, there are a number of items that you should be aware of. These items typically are high in purines and other items that can lead to the buildup of excess uric acid in the body. One thing worth mentioning is that many of the items listed below can also be linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Obesity is another health issue that can be experienced when uric acid levels are too high in the blood stream.


Here is a listing of foods that are known to be high in purines, thus increasing the risk of experiencing gout symptoms:


- sardines


- liver


- salmon


- turkey


- bacon


- trout


- haddock


- anchovies


- veal


- goose


- mussels


- herring

Maintaining a healthy and well balanced diet is a good strategy for addressing any gout issues that you may be experiencing. Not only does keeping a good diet for gout help reduce the risk of experiencing gout symptoms, but it also can help reduce the risk of experiencing other more serious health issues such as obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, and more.


Do you want to learn more facts about gout and how to get proper gout relief? Discover these other Gout Symptoms you might have see how you can prevent gout once and for all.


If you’ve ever gotten a gout attack, you know it is very painful.  In fact, many people who suffer from this disease will do anything to avoid it.  So, what can you do?  Most of the problem relates to our diets.  Purines are the main culprit.  They metabolize into uric acid which crystallizes in our joints causing gout.  Prevention is usually geared towards reducing the purine content of what we eat.  So what foods should you avoid with gout?

Shellfish are notoriously high in purine content.  Whether you are eating shrimp or crab you are setting yourself up for pain.  Especially if you eat a lot of it such as at a Friday all you can eat seafood bar.  Eat the shrimp and crab in moderation, and focus on eating other foods in the seafood bar that are much healthier for you without the painful side effects.

Another kind of food to avoid with gout is game food. Pheasant and wild turkey may taste great, but they are not great for the toe and ankle pain you are probably going to experience after eating a few meals of these game birds.  Unfortunately for gout patients, these foods are actually lean and healthy, just not if you don’t have gout.

Hot dogs and bacon are other foods that cause gout.  Whether the hotdogs are from beef, chicken, turkey, or pork, they generally are not good for you.  This is because they are usually made from the organs.  Organ meat is very high in purines.  Bacon can be hit or miss.  Sometimes it is made from the thigh, but it can also be made from the stomach, another organ high in purines. Liver and liver pastes, while high in protein are another source of gout. Ethnic communities that eat high levels of liver and ground meat rich in organs tend to have a increased exposure to gout.

Shellfish, game foods, and organ meat are not the only foods that cause gout, but you if you monitor these foods in your diet, you should hopefully be able to decrease the frequency and intensity of your gout attacks. Eating a healthy diet of vegetables, grains, and legumes can help reduce the purines in your system and lead to greater health and well-being.

Gout is a disease of the joints and can be found in millions of people. The affected joint is the big toe is in many cases (the big toe of the ball), but may also have a drop of the ankle. The processing is necessary in this situation because the drop can become chronic gout and crippling the joints.
Drop by people who seem too much uric acid in the body. Uric acid is created from the food that is digested and broken down the basic elements that are absorbed by the body. Sometimes there is too much acid in the blood. Gout occurs shortly after the acid begins to crystallize in the joints causing inflammation and irritation.
Hence the cause of gout is an overload of uric acid in the blood.

What is the best way to know how to treat gout? 

To prevent or treat gout, you need the levels of uric acid in the blood decreases. You can do this by changing the foods you eat, if they are not the type of food purines which are substances that uric acid levels increased. There are also medications that the amount of uric acid the body can reduce, but not unless they say in art to do because the drugs can cause problems if the dose deze No ‘ is not well controlled.

So if you are hit by an attack of gout in a short visit to your doctor and listening to his advice. You get a drug you take every day and you will be informed that the food you eat on the uric acid in the blood and reduce the change. If you to not have problems with gout.

GOUT FOODS, PURINES AND URIC ACID

A gout sufferer needs to ensure that he or she reduces uric acid levels and maintains them at relatively low levels. Not only do you need to do this to eliminate the symptoms of a current gout attack, you need to do this to prevent possible joint and kidney damage due to repeated gout attacks over time.

And, since purines exist in your food, you need to eat a diet that avoids high purine foods. Many foods have high or even very high purine concentrations. These are generally foods that fall withing the following categories; red meat, organ meat, game, poultry, fish, shellfish and legumes.


GOUT FOODS TO AVOID LIST

The following is a list of gout foods to avoid…

• fatty red meats
• meat extracts
• venison
• pheasant
• grouse
• pork
• bacon
• burgers
• hot dogs
• kidneys
• liver
• heart
• broth
• consomme
• goose
• duck
• turkey
• anchovies
• sardines
• scallops
• mackerel
• herring
• mussels
• shrimp
• dried legumes
• yeast (baker’s, brewer’s, extracts)

This can’t be a complete list, but it gives you an idea of the kind of foods to avoid for gout. And don’t forget about alcohol which is a known trigger for gout. Avoid alcohol, especially beer.

GOUT FOODS AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

When considering the list of gout foods to avoid, please bear in mind that different people react in different ways to foods that cause gout, because their metabolisms are different. For instance, whereas turkey might be a trigger for a gout attack for one person, another might eat turkey regularly, without any attacks.

But as well as avoiding the foods that cause gout, you also need to take into consideration other important factors like your weight, lifestyle, medical conditions, medications, family history, etc.

Gout is one of the most painful yet treatable forms of arthritis, but it’s often not treated properly. It’s estimated that two to five million Americans have gout, with most males suffering a first gout attack between 40 and 50 years of age. Women develop gout later, in the years following menopause. With Americans living longer and growing stouter, both of which are linked to gout’s prevalence, it’s important that the disease be diagnosed promptly and accurately, and treated effectively, to prevent disability, joint damage, and diminished quality of life.

Gout is caused by excess levels of uric acid in the blood. When this excess urate is present, it will often crystallize in a joint, typically the big toe, leading to inflammatory arthritis. Uric acid is a substance that forms when the body breaks down purines, components of DNA that occur naturally in the tissues of the body.

Historically, gout patients have been advised to avoid all foods that are rich in purines because they are more likely to cause or aggravate gout. These include organ meats, such as liver, kidneys, brains, and sweetbreads, as well as sardines, anchovies, clams, and purine-rich vegetables (peas, beans, cauliflower). A study from Harvard Medical School reached the following conclusions for a low-purine, gout preventative diet:


Meats: Those who consumed meats with the highest purine concentration (specifically organ meats, beef, pork, and lamb) were 40 percent more likely to develop gout than those who ate the least.

Seafood: All types of seafood are high in purines. Those who ate the most seafood (including canned tuna, shrimp, lobster, and scallops) were 50 percent more likely to develop gout than those who ate the least.

Vegetables: Vegetables high in purines, including peas, beans, mushrooms, cauliflower, and spinach, were not associated with gout attacks.

Dairy: The incidence of gout decreases with increasing intake of dairy products. Low-fat dairy products may have protective benefits, most likely due to the proteins in milk that help reduce uric acid levels. Those who drank one or two glasses of skim milk per day were 48 percent less likely to develop gout.

Alcohol:  Those who consumed the least alcohol also tended to follow a low-purine diet with a low-fat dairy component, thereby recording fewer gout flare-ups.