7 Foods That Cause Gout - Discover the Everyday Foods to Avoid For Gout - By: JCielo

You need to avoid foods that cause gout. But how do you know what these are? Here, you'll discover 7 foods that cause gout and why you should avoid them...

The cause of the symptoms of gout are the uric acid crystals that have been deposited in the joints such as the big toe. These are formed out of elevated uric acid levels in the blood.

And the uric acid is the result of the breakdown of natural compounds called 'purines' in our bodies and foods. But normally, your kidneys process and excrete excess acid from your body, leaving the sufficient that your body needs.

Elevated uric acid often happens when either your kidneys aren't excreting enough, or, there is too much being produced through purine breakdown.

As a gout sufferer you'll have relatively high uric acid levels that you need to reduce. So what you can't have is the situation where you are producing increasing amounts of uric acid. And since this is the product of purines which also exist in our foods, you need to reduce the purines you take in through your foods.

The purine content of foods varies a lot, from relatively low levels, through to very high levels. Foods that must be avoided are those that are high / very high in purines.

The following foods are high / very high in purines, and, therefore can be said to be foods that cause gout and so should be avoided...

1. Fish (especially anchovies, sardines, mackerel, herring and fish roe, etc.)
2. Offal (kidneys, liver, brains, heart, sweetbreads)
3. Shellfish (especially mussels, scallops and shrimps, etc.)
4. Poultry (especially goose, turkey and partridge, etc.)
5. Gravy (consomme, broth etc.)
6. Meat (especially red fatty meat, mincemeat, meat extracts, etc.)
7. Yeast (i.e. baker's yeast, brewer's yeast, yeast extracts, etc.)

Although not a food, you should also avoid alcohol, especially beer. Alcohol has been proven to be a trigger for gout attacks.

Now, this isn't a complete list of gout causing foods by any means, but it does give you a general idea of the range of foods to avoid with gout.

There are other foods that have moderately high purine levels and these are things like spinach, cauliflower, mushrooms, asparagus, legumes, oatmeal dried peas, and soy, etc.

But with these, a lot depends on the individual circumstances. For instance, some may not be a problem for some gout sufferers, whilst, being very problematical for others. These need to be 'individualized.'

A good tip is to keep a daily food diary to track and identify your individual requirements, i.e. those foods that you can safely eat and those that you must avoid, because you've identified them as gout causing foods for you.

But your diet isn't all you need to address in order to prevent recurring gout, which can lead to permanently damaged joints, as well as kidney stones and other kidney problems. There are other things like; weight and lifestyle, as well as other underlying issues.

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