High, medium and low purine foods in your diet
Purines are everywhere. I mentioned this in my blog post explaining what purines are and how they affect gout.
There are two groups of purines in your body:
- Purines naturally made by your body (known as “endogenous purines”).
- Purines naturally made in the foods you eat (known as “exogenous purines”).
In this blog post, we’re going to focus on the exogenous kind of purines and take a look at the purine levels of different foods across the high, medium and low ends of the scale.
Low purine foods
The following group of foods contain 0–50mg of purines per 100g:
- Fruits.
- Vegetables (all except those in the medium group) — runner/green/string beans/French beans, mange-tout, and sugar snap peas.
- Cereals (all except those in the medium group) — most breads and cakes, most breakfast cereals, biscuits, rice, barley, couscous, polenta, and pasta are permitted in moderation.
- Dairy products — milk, creams, yoghurt, ice cream, cheese, eggs (keep in mind the high fat content).
- Fats, within reasonable calorie limits — butter, most cooking oils, lard, shortening, salad dressing, mayonnaise.
- Nuts (not peanuts, cashews, and preferably not salted nuts).
- Olives.
- Preserves and sweets — jam, marmalade, chutney, pickles.
- Beverages — including tea, coffee, soft drinks (but these may contain caffeine).
Medium purine foods
The following group of foods contain 50–150mg of purines per 100g:
- Poultry — chicken, duck, turkey, goose.
- Red meats and sausages — veal, beef, lamb, pork, bacon.
- Fish — except those in the high group.
- Oysters, mussels, and most other shellfish, prawns, shrimp, scampi.
- Wholegrain bread and pasta.
- Wholegrain cereals — including oatmeal, brown rice, and tahini.
- Lentils, soya beans, bean curd, tofu, tempeh, miso, hummus, peaks and beans — including chickpeas.
- Peanuts, peanut butter, cashews, ground nuts.
- Brassicas — cauliflower, broccoli/calabrese, kale, brussel sprouts, Chinese greends.
- Spinach, asparagus, avocado, and mushrooms.
High purine foods
The following group of foods contain 150–1,000mg of purines per 100g:
- Wild or farmed game — pheasant, quail, grouse, rabbit/hare, venison.
- Organ meats — kidney, heart, sweetbreads, liver, pate, terrine, liver sausage, foie gras.
- Extracts of meat and yeast — Bovril, Oxo, Marmite, Vegemite.
- Fish roe — cod roe, caviar, taramasalata.
- Scallops, herrings, mackerel, trout.
- Crayfish, lobster.
- Small fish — whole or processed — anchovies, sardines, sprats, whitebait, anchovy paste, Gentlemen’s Relish, Thai fish sauce.
The foods lists above come from the book Gout by Prof. R. Grahame, Dr A. Simmonds, and Dr E. Carrey.
Whilst many recommend eating more low purine foods, I believe in having a well-balanced diet.
I, and many other gout sufferers, have tried sticking to low purine only diets, however, this didn’t fully prevent gout attacks compared to eating a balanced diet that covers low, medium and high purine foods.
Many gout sufferers who regularly measure their uric acid levels using home UA testing devices also measure the impact of low, medium, and high purine foods on their uric acid levels in an effort to identify their potential gout triggers.
As with all things diet and health-related, your gout is bespoke to you so manage your diet in the way that works best for you and consult with a doctor or dietician in the first instance if you’re concerned.
I hope you find this blog post helpful. I’ll keep this up-to-date if new foods and their purine levels are discovered or existing levels edited.