High levels of uric acid (AU) in the body can lead to gout, which is a particularly painful type of arthritis. Therefore, people who suffer from gout generally need to lower their uric acid and keep it at healthier levels. One of the most common ways to do this is through a uric acid diet.

To better understand why people with gout can benefit from a uric acid diet, it’s worth first learning what AU is, where it’s derived from, and why it can cause gout…

What is uric acid?

AU is a compound of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, and is created when the body breaks down purine nucleotide molecules during its metabolism process. It is then excreted out of the body in the urine as a waste product.

Uric acid is beneficial to us because it is a powerful antioxidant, accounting for about 50% of the total antioxidant capacity of blood serum. It is capable of fighting oxygen radicals that cause things like cancer, heart disease and aging etc. For example, it is important to help prevent damage to the lining of blood vessels.

So when the AU is between the generally recognized normal levels (called ‘the reference range’) of 3.6 mg/dL to 8.3 mg/dL, then this is a healthy thing to do. However, levels above this, a condition called ‘hyperuricemia’, and below this range, ‘hypouricemia’, are not as good. Here we are concentrating on the first, hyperuricemia.

What causes high uric acid in the blood that leads to gout?

There are several possible reasons for hyperurichymea; hereditary reasons, diet, kidney problems that prevent them from processing AU effectively, too much production of AU for the kidneys to handle, some medical conditions and medications, excessive alcohol consumption.

When we have the situation where someone has hyperuricemia, excess acid in the blood can cause microscopic needle-shaped crystals of urate to build up over time in the joints and connective tissue.

The body’s natural inflammatory reaction, which seeks to drive out the ‘intruder’ and begin the healing process, is to increase blood flow around the area by dilating the blood vessels. This healing process gives rise to the symptoms of gout; redness, swelling, inflammation, heat and great pain.

Why a uric acid diet?

Where does a uric acid diet fit into all of this? In addition to existing in the human body, purines also exist in the food we eat. Some foods have relatively high concentrations, some moderate, and some have relatively low concentrations of purines. This means that someone who eats a high-purine diet is at increased risk of hyperuricea, and therefore gout. The average person in the US consumes between 600 and 1,000 milligrams of purines in their daily diet.

Therefore, a uric acid diet is a diet that has a better balance of foods so that the amount of AU produced during the metabolic process can be effectively processed by the kidneys so that acid levels are kept within from the reference range described above.

Typical purine-rich foods are fatty red meat, game, organ meats, fish and shellfish, poultry, dried vegetables, yeast, and yeast extracts. And some vegetables like asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms, and spinach are moderately high in purines.

Foods that are relatively low in purines include essential fatty acids, complex carbohydrates, low-fat dairy products, foods high in vitamin C, green leafy vegetables, and fruits.

Uric Acid Diet List

A uric acid diet is a special diet that avoids or reduces foods with medium to high purine levels and injects low purine foods in a healthy and balanced way. Here is a sample list of foods to consider in your UA diet…

(1) Breakfast

Select from:

Whole toast

fresh fruit salad

pink grapefruit

cantaloupe

banana

Porridge

honey

low fat yogurt

muesli with low fat milk

boiled egg

(2) Lunch

Select from:

mixed salad

poached eggs

baked potato

grilled herring

tomato soup

accompaniments:

cottage cheese

Whole toast

oat cakes

yogurt

scrambled eggs

Roasted Tomatoes

(3) Dinner

Select from:

chicken curry

braised with a small amount of lean beef

Baked/Grilled Wild Salmon

veggie burgers

grilled chicken breast

vegetable casserole

accompaniments:

potatoes

carrots

parsnips

broccoli

baked potato chips

scrambled eggs

Integral rice

Roasted Tomatoes

cab

Try to keep your total consumption of meat, poultry, and fish to 6 ounces per day. And limit yourself to 1-2 alcoholic drinks a day, as alcohol can inhibit AU excretion. Eat a lot of fruit like cherries, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, etc., and drink a lot of water (2-3 liters per day) to help your kidneys remove uric acid from your body.