High Uric Acid Foods List

by
DON AMERMAN Oct. 03, 2017

Don Amerman

Don Amerman has spent his entire professional career in the editorial field. For many years he was an editor and writer for The Journal of Commerce. Since 1996 he has been freelancing full-time, writing for a large number of print and online publishers including Gale Group, Charles Scribner’s Sons, Greenwood Publishing, Rock Hill Works and others.

The body creates uric acid during the processing of chemical compounds called purines, which occur naturally in the body and are found in a wide array of foods as well. Although most uric acid dissolves in the blood and is excreted as urine, excessive levels of uric acid can cause health problems, most notably gout. Foods rich in purines elevate blood levels of uric acid and thus are known also as high uric acid foods.

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Meat, Poultry and Seafood

Meat, poultry and seafood rank near the top of the list of foods with high purine content, according to the Gout website. Purine-containing foods are measured in terms of milligrams of uric acid per 100 grams of the food itself. Those with 400 mg or more of uric acid are considered high-purine and should be avoided completely. If you’re having uric acid-related health problems, restrict also your consumption of moderate-purine foods, those containing between 100 and 400 mg per 100 g.

Fruits and Vegetables

Generally speaking, fruits and vegetables are low in purine content and can be eaten freely. Only one food in this category falls into the high-purine category, according to the GoutPal website. With 488 mg of uric acid, the dried Boletus mushroom, often marketed as porcini, is a food to be avoided. Moderate-purine fruits and vegetable include sultana raisins, which come in at 107 mg, and dried beans and lentils, including white beans, 128 mg; soybeans, 190 mg; lentils, 127 mg; and chickpeas, 109 mg.

Other Foodstuffs

A few other foods, which fall outside standard categories, also contain high levels of uric acid and should be either omitted from your diet or sharply restricted. Such foods include baker’s yeast, 680 mg; brewer’s yeast, 1,810 mg; dried poppyseeds, 170 mg; and dried sunflower seeds, 143 mg. Also be wary of theobromine, an alkaloid that is found in acai berries, chocolate, coffee, cola drinks and tea and packs 2,300 mg of uric acid.