Under normal circumstances, uric acid in the body is in a state of balance. If the body produces too much to excrete or if the uric acid excretion mechanism is degraded, the body retains too much uric acid and when the blood uric acid concentration is greater than 420umol/L, it affects the normal function of the body’s cells and even causes gout. The high uric acid content is proportional to the purine content in food. The uric acid in the human body is derived from purines, more purines naturally more uric acid, purines from food into the body about 15% of the total, while the body itself produces 85% of the purines (of course, too much purines produced by itself, the impact on uric acid is greater, this is mainly genetic factors determine, many normal conditions, the body’s uric acid in a balanced state. If the body produces too much to excrete or the uric acid excretion mechanism degenerates, the body retains too much uric acid, and when the blood uric acid concentration is greater than 420umol/L, it affects the normal function of the body’s cells and even causes gout. The high uric acid content is proportional to the purine content in food. The uric acid in the human body is derived from purines, more purines naturally more uric acid, purines from food into the body about 15% of the total, while the body’s own production of purines accounted for 85% (of course, too much of their own production of purines, the impact on uric acid more, this is mainly genetic factors, many gout patients have a family history of the disease), strict restriction of purine intake can reduce the serum uric acid content.
Therefore, for patients with hyperuricemia or gout, our doctors should give them proper dietary guidance to reduce the intake of high purine foods. The following describes the purine content of common foods.
Dietary guidance.
1. Alcohol, especially beer, should be abstained from first.
2. Avoid eating a diet containing high purine. Animal offal, bone marrow and seafood are the richest in purines; fish and shrimp, meat, peas, mushrooms and spinach also contain certain purines and should be eaten sparingly.
3, low purine food can be safe to eat, medium purine food should be limited to eat, and high purine food should be prohibited. Generally, alkaline food contains low purine, such as mustard, cauliflower, kelp, cabbage, tomato, cucumber, eggplant, onion, potato, bamboo shoot, peach, apricot, pear, banana, apple, etc., should be eaten more. And high purine foods can contribute to high amounts of uric acid. Therefore, they should be avoided as much as possible.
1. Common high purine foods.
(1) Legumes and vegetables: soybeans, lentils, nori, shiitake mushrooms.
(2) Meat: liver, intestine, heart, stomach, kidney, lung, brain, pancreas and other offal of poultry and livestock, dried meat, thick gravy, meat pies, etc.
(3) Aquatic products: fish (fish skin, fish eggs, dried fish and sea fish such as sardines and anchovies), shellfish, shrimp, sea cucumbers, loach, eels.
(4) Others: yeast powder, various kinds of alcohol, especially beer.
2. Common medium purine foods.
(1) Legumes and their products: soybean products (tofu, dried tofu, dairy tofu, soy milk, soy milk), dried beans (mung beans, red beans, black beans, broad beans), bean seedlings, soybean sprouts.
(2) Meat: poultry and livestock meat.
(3) Aquatic products: grass carp, carp, cod, flounder, sea bass, crab, eel, eel, snail, abalone, fish ball, shark fin.
(4) Vegetables: spinach, bamboo shoots (asparagus, asparagus, dried bamboo shoots), beans (string beans, green beans, beans, cowpeas, peas), seaweed, golden needles, silver fungus, mushrooms, cauliflower.
(5) Fats and oils and others: peanuts, cashew nuts, sesame seeds, chestnuts, lotus seeds, almonds.
3.Common low purine foods.
(1) Staple foods: rice, wheat, pasta products, starch, sorghum, macaroni, potato, sweet potato, yam, etc.
(2) Milk: milk, cheese, ice cream, etc.
(3) Meat: eggs and pig blood, chicken and duck blood, etc.
(4) Vegetables: Most vegetables are low purine foods.
(5) Fruits: Fruits are basically low purine foods and can be eaten with no worries.
(6) Beverages: soda, cola, soft drink, mineral water, tea, juice, coffee, cream of wheat, chocolate, cocoa, jelly, etc.
(7) Others: sauces, honey. Oils and fats (melon seeds, vegetable oil, butter, cream, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts), coix seeds, dried fruits, sugar, honey, jellyfish, seaweed, snacks and condiments made of animal glue or agar.