What Foods to avoid if you got Gout?
Diet is very important when you have gout. There are good foods that you can eat without risk to your uric acid level and others that you should avoid because they increase it.
Uric acid is a waste product in the final stage of protein degradation and, more specifically, of the purine chemical family.
Reducing foods rich in purines contributes to the decrease of uric acid in the body and therefore to the occurrence of gout attacks.
But there are also foods that can trigger a gout attack even if they do not contain an ounce of uric acid.
Here are the foods you should avoid:
- Red meat and offal due to their high purine content.
- Shellfish, crustaceans and mollusks: shrimp, crayfish, clams, oysters, sea or river crabs.
- Blue fish: sardines, anchovies, tuna… in spite of their multiple benefits due to their Omega 3 content, they can increase uric acid.
- Stimulating drinks (cola, coffee…) and especially alcoholic beverages, including beer which, although it has a low alcohol content, its hops content makes it not advisable (as well as the intake of foods containing brewer’s yeast).
- Asparagus, mushrooms and some leafy vegetables such as spinach or chard should also be taken in moderation (or eliminated from the diet depending on the level of intensity of the disease).
- Cheeses that are too fermented.
Finally, fasting is totally inadvisable for people suffering from gout: fasting strongly aggravates hyperuricemia because it favors the release of uric acid in the blood and thus increases the occurrence of gout attacks.