subject: This Is No Diet For Gout Patients! [print this page] People with gout need to reduce their uric acid and keep it at healthy levels because high uric acid in the blood causes gout. Here you'll discover a special diet for gout patients to help you do this, so that you can prevent gout in the future.
First though, let's have a quick look at why you may need a gout diet plan...
The presence of higher-than-normal uric acid in the body gives the conditions for crystals of urate to form in the joints and surrounding tissue causing the painful symptoms of gout.
Uric acid is produced in the body when chemical compounds called 'purines' break down during the body's metabolizing process. But, as well as existing in your body's cells, purines also exist in the cells of animals and plants, so that they are present in most of our food.
Some food groups are higher in purines than others and some individual foods within those groups have higher purines than others within that group.
A common reason for gout patients having high uric acid levels, is that their bodies are producing too much uric acid for their kidneys to cope with, so that insufficient uric acid is being flushed out of their system. And one of the reasons behind this is often their diet, which is high in purine-rich foods.
Luckily, because we know which foods have the highest purine levels and which have relatively low purine levels, we are able to identify which foods need to be avoided and those which can be safely eaten with gout...
THIS IS NO DIET FOR GOUT PATIENTS
Foods to be avoided, or markedly reduced, are foods like:-
And because low-purine diets can be deficient in certain vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, it makes sense to make up for this through specific supplementation, for example vitamins B (complex) and E.
[Note: Never make any significant changes to your diet without first consulting with your doctor / physician.]