This diet will help reduce the amount of uric acid in your blood. You will need to limit foods with purine (a kind of uric acid) and you should drink little or no alcohol.
Recommended foods
The chart shows foods that are low to moderate in purines.
- You can eat any amount of the foods that are low in purine. Choose healthy foods most often
- For the foods that are moderate in purines, stick to the amounts shown in the chart
Food group | Food low in purines |
Beverages | Water, juice, carbonated beverages, tea, coffee, cocoa |
Breads and cereals | Breads, pasta, rice, cakes, cornbread, popcorn |
Condiments | Salt, herbs, olives, pickles, relishes, vinegar |
Dairy | All dairy foods (low-fat or non-fat types are best) |
Fats and oils | All types except gravies and sauces made with meat |
Fruits | All |
Proteins | Eggs, nuts, peanut butter |
Soups | Made without meat |
Vegetables | All vegetables but those that are moderate in purines |
Other foods | Sugar, sweets, gelatin |
Food group | Food moderate in purines |
Breads and cereals | Oatmeal (do not eat more than 2/3 cup uncooked daily), wheat bran, wheat germ (do not eat more than 1/4 cup dry daily) |
Proteins | Meat and poultry, crab, lobster, oysters, shrimp (limit to 1 serving daily). dried beans, lentils (limit to 1 cup cooked daily) |
Soups | Meat or fish based soups, broths, bouillons |
Vegetables | Asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms, green peas (do not eat more than 1/2 cup of these vegetables per day) |
Foods not recommended
No foods must be completely avoided. However, you should limit foods that are high in purines.
Notes:
- Avoid fatty/oily foods and alcoholic drinks as both food items tend to retain uric acid
- Drink lots of water to help excrete excess purine, unless you have oedema /ascites
Food group | Food high in purines |
Beverages | Beer and other alcoholic beverages |
Fats and oils | Gravies and sauces made with meat |
Proteins | Anchovies, sardines, herring, mussels, tuna, codfish, scallops, trout and tripe, sweet breads, wild game, goose, haddock (remove fish skin), bacon, organ meats (such as liver, kidney) |
Other | Yeast and yeast extracts (taken as supplements) |