Uric Acid Diet

Gout is the new black. Luxury abounds. Once upon a time, only a select few had luxury cars and luggage. Now everybody does. Once upon a time, gout was an illness that afflicted only the wealthy who could afford to eat a meat-heavy diet. Now gout is on the rise everywhere.

So, how can we keep up with out rich neighbors and get gout for ourselves? After all, if we are the only people without gout, others might start talking about us. How can we keep up with the latest luxury disease?

Despair not. Follow this simple guide, and you will greatly increase your risk of getting gout. Get gout before you get left out, I say…

1. Eat a purine rich diet that causes uric acid crystals to form and encourages gout. Get started with the foods on this list of high purine foods.
2. Eat more. Eat all the foods that cause uric acid, and eat more of them. Fatten up!
3. Diet sometimes. Not a normal diet, but a crash diet where you starve yourself for a week or two, brag about your weight loss for a week or two, and then balloon right back up to where you were again.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 regularly.
5. Drink. Get drunk. Have fun. Especially drink beer. Beer is purine rich, associated with gout, and helps make you fat, which is also associated with gout.
6. Don’t drink water. Dehydration is gout’s friend.
7. If you must drink something besides beer, make it soft drinks. Sweetened soda water. Gout loves corn syrup.
8. Break a leg. Joint trauma greatly increases your chance of getting gout. If your knees are weak, try jump more often.
9. Cholesterol and blood pressure. The higher the better. Low cholesterol and blood pressure mean less chance of gout – and more chance your neighbors will think you aren’t rich enough to have gout.
10. Get older, get menopause. Your chances of getting gout increase after menopause. I know it’s tough to wait, but aging has its advantages.

007 probably had gout

Keep it up. Enjoy yourself. Have a martini, shaken or stirred. Eat purine rich foods. You’ll greatly increase your chances of being part of the in-crowd with gout.

And, just in case you haven’t figured it out. This was tongue in cheek. Nobody really wants to have gout, anymore than they want bunions. 

Fructose, even that from fresh fruits, may have an impact on your uric acid levels that you should know about. Dr. Richard Johnson, the author of “The Sugar Fix,” available at Amazon and other bookstores, was interviewed by Dr. Joseph Mercola last year regarding fructose and uric acid, and particularly the effects of fructose consumption on uric acid levels. Dr. Richard Johnson is chief of the division of kidney disease and hypertension at the University of Colorado.

First off, he discussed ideal uric acid levels for men and women..

DM: It was a real surprise in our first discussion to learn of the impact of fructose on uric acid… You had mentioned in the last interview that there are a number of researchers who believe that uric acid is actually needed in small quantities because it serves as an antioxidant. So if your levels are too low, it’s a problem.
You had mentioned the range. It should be somewhere between 3 and 5 or 5.5.  And I’m wondering… if you think that the optimum should be closer to the 3 and really further away from the 5.5.
DJ: Sure. Well we do think that the safest range of uric acid is between 3 and 5.2 or 5.5 milligrams per deciliter and it does look like there is a steady relationship between uric acid levels and blood pressure and cardiovascular risk down to the range of 3 to 4. I would suggest that the ideal uric acid is probably around 4 for men and probably around 3.5 for women. I really think that’s probably correct.

 

Dr. Mercola went on to say that two thirds of Americans are overweight, and that uric acid levels for most overweight people were over 5, and often closer to 10. While Dr. Johnson acknowledged that uric acid levels that were too low could be a problem, many more of us were in danger because our levels are too high, and that high uric acid levels “increase the risk for diabetes and high blood pressure, kidney disease and obesity.”

He then made the point that, while fructose could increase uric acid levels, the unnatural added fructose that is found in so many processed foods and almost all sweetened foods was much worse. And more:

We actually have some evidence from our laboratory that uric
acid actually regulates the sensitivity to fructose. So the higher 
your uric acid, the more sensitive you are to the effects of
fructose.

He continued to comment that fresh fruit in moderation was probably fine, and is very healthy in many ways. Yet he cautioned about drinking packaged fruit juices, which are often very misleading and containing many additives. They do not compare to fresh fruit juice made at home.

To keep your uric acid levels down, it’s probably a very good idea to avoid sweetened foods, particularly soft drinks and branded juices. These “100% pure” juices are often made from heavily processed concentrates that require artificial flavorings. They lose many of the benefits in fruits that might counteract the negative effects of fructose on your uric acid levels. Stick to fresh fruits, and squeeze your juices to keep those levels down.　Fructose and uric acid have a potent relationship, but one that is well managed by wholesome and natural foods.

Source

Purines are actually formed by your own metabolism when it breaks down nucleoproteins in the food you eat. So, high purine foods are, strictly speaking, foods that cause your body top produce more purines. Low purine foods, of course, are the opposite, resulting in fewer purines in your body. Some people have disorders that cause the mostly insoluble purine called uric acid to build up in the joints. The most common of these disorders in gout.

In this case, it can be very good idea to restrict your intake of high purine foods.

Food with Highest Purine Levels (150-825mg/100g)

Sweetbreads (825mg/100g)
Anchovies (363mg/100g)
Sardines (295mg/100g)
Herring
Mackerel
Scallops
Game meats
Beef liver
Brains
Meat Extracts
Gravy

As you can see, the main foods to watch are meats, particularly internal organs, and small oily fish.

Foods with Somewhat High Purine Levels (50-150mg/100g)

Asparagus
Cauliflower
Green peas
Mushrooms
Spinach
Wheat germ and wheat bran
Beans and legumes
Bread and cereal grains

Meat and poultry of all types
Meat soups/broths

Shellfish, including lobster, oysters and crab

Now you can start to see why gout was formerly seen as a rich person’s disease. Until not too long ago, only wealthier people could afford to indulge heavily in meats and shellfish.

Food that are Lowest in Purines

Coffee, tea, soda and most beverages
Breads and cereals that are not whole grain
Cheese
Eggs
Fats
Fish eggs
Fruits and fruit juices
Gelatin
Milk
Nuts
Sugar and sweet syrups
Vegetables except those listed above

By now, you may have noticed that several foods usually seen as healthy (spinach, whole grains) are seen with increasing purine levels. Meanwhile, a lot of the “fun” foods, such as sugars and cheeses, are just fine. No wonder a low uric acid diet is so tough.

Do notice that vegetables, except those listed in the middle section, are all fine.