High levels of uric acid (UA) in the body can lead to gout, which is a particularly painful type of arthritis. So people with 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 is worth learning first what UA is, where it comes from, and why it can cause gout …

What is uric acid?

UA 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 from the body through 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 the 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 UA 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 state called “hyperuricemia,” and below this range, “hypouricemia,” are not as good. Here we focus on the first, hyperuricemia.

What Causes High Uric Acid Content In Blood That Leads To Gout?

There are several possible reasons for hyperuricimea; Hereditary reasons, diet, kidney problems preventing them from processing UA effectively, too much UA production 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-like urate crystals to build up over time in the joints and connective tissue.

The body’s natural inflammatory reaction, which seeks to expel 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, warmth, and a lot of pain.

Why a uric acid diet?

Where does a uric acid diet fit into all of this? Besides 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 diet rich in purines is at increased risk for hyperuricea and therefore gout. The average person in the United States 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 food, so that the amount of UA produced during the metabolism process can be efficiently processed by the kidneys so that the acid levels are kept within the reference range described above.

Typical foods high in purines are fatty red meat, game, organ meat, fish and shellfish, poultry, dried legumes, yeast, 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 medium to high-purine foods and injects low-purine foods in a healthy and balanced way. Here’s an example list of foods to consider in your UA diet …

(1) Breakfast

Select from:

Whole toast

fresh fruit salad

grapefruit

cantaloupe

Plantain

Porridge

honey

low fat yogurt

muesli with skim milk

boiled egg

(2) Lunch

Select from:

mixed salad

poached eggs

baked potato

grilled herring

tomato soup

accompaniments:

cottage cheese

Whole toast

oatmeal cakes

yogurt

scrambled eggs

Roasted Tomatoes

(3) Dinner

Select from:

Chicken curry

stew with a small amount of lean meat

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

cabbage

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