Can patients with gout drink rice wine?
Disease description:
I personally really enjoy drinking rice wine, especially during summer. However, my gout has flared up recently, and I'm wondering whether it's going to be okay. May I ask, is it safe for someone with gout to drink rice wine?
Doctor's answer (1)
Dr. Yang Ziqi
Gout patients are not advised to drink rice wine, primarily because rice wine contains high levels of purines. Each 100 grams of rice wine contains 150–1000 milligrams of purines, making it one of the high-purine foods. Gout is a disease caused by elevated levels of uric acid in the body, leading to the deposition of urate crystals in the joints and soft tissues. Consumption of high-purine foods can metabolize into large amounts of uric acid in the body, potentially triggering or worsening gout symptoms. In addition, rice wine also contains alcohol, which inhibits the liver's metabolism of uric acid, further increasing the levels of uric acid in the body, which is detrimental to gout patients. Therefore, in order to control uric acid levels and prevent gout attacks, gout patients should avoid drinking rice wine as much as possible.
