What foods should patients with gout avoid eating?
Disease description:
I am a gout patient and often experience joint pain, especially in my toes and ankles. My condition keeps recurring, which troubles me a lot. I know I need to follow dietary restrictions, but I'm not sure exactly which foods I should avoid.
Doctor's answer (1)
Dr. Yang Tiesheng
Gout is a disease caused by hyperuricemia, mainly manifested as arthritis, tophi, and uric acid nephropathy. A reasonable diet can effectively reduce uric acid levels and prevent gout attacks. The following are some dietary recommendations:
1. High-purine foods: Patients with gout should avoid high-purine foods such as animal offal, seafood, red meat, concentrated meat broths, and bone marrow. Purines in these foods are metabolized into uric acid in the body, increasing the concentration of uric acid in the blood and triggering gout attacks.
2. Alcohol: Alcohol, especially beer, promotes purine absorption and inhibits uric acid excretion, making it a common trigger for gout attacks. Therefore, patients with gout should strictly limit alcohol consumption and ideally abstain completely.
3. Spicy foods: Spicy foods such as hot pot, spicy hot pot, chili peppers, and Sichuan peppercorns may irritate the joints and worsen gout symptoms. Patients should avoid consuming these foods.
4. Beverages: Alcoholic beverages, coffee, strong tea, and sugar-sweetened drinks can all increase uric acid levels in the body. Patients with gout should avoid drinking these beverages as much as possible.
The diet of gout patients should follow the principles of low-purine, low-fat, and low-sugar intake, while ensuring adequate water consumption, which helps promote uric acid excretion and reduce the risk of gout attacks.
