My uric acid level is high and I don’t dare to eat meat. Can I eat vegetarian food without worry?

A netizen asked: I am a gout patient. I usually don’t eat meat because I am afraid of gout attacks.

I would like to ask, are vegetarian dishes low in purine? Can I eat them without worry?

Generally speaking, the purine content in general meat dishes is indeed higher than that in vegetarian dishes. For example, animal offal and shellfish are all high-purine foods.

However, the level of purine in food is not determined by whether it is meat or vegetables.

The purine content in some vegetarian dishes is actually not low, such as leeks, soybeans, dried shiitake mushrooms, and fungus.

On the contrary, the purine content in meat dishes such as fresh milk and eggs is actually very low.

Therefore, when choosing food, gout patients cannot simply divide it into meat or vegetarian dishes.

If you still don’t know how to eat it, read on.

High Purine Foods

Including animal offal, some seafood (such as sardines, caviar, shrimps, oysters), thick broth and seafood hot pot soup, etc.

Recommendation: Patients with gout and hyperuricemia should try to avoid these foods.

Moderate to high purine foods

Common meats include pork, beef, mutton and other livestock meats, poultry meats such as chicken, duck and goose, as well as some fish (bass, carp, crucian carp, etc.) and crustaceans (oyster meat, shellfish meat, crab, etc.).

Recommendation: Do not eat during the acute phase of gout, and eat less at other times.

Medium-Purine Foods

Dark green tender stem and leaf vegetables, flower vegetables, tender bean vegetables, undried fungi (fresh mushrooms), some aquatic products (salmon, tuna, lobster, etc.), etc.

Suggestion: Don’t overeat intentionally, it’s not a big problem.

Foods low in purine

Milk, eggs, light-colored leafy vegetables (such as cabbage), root vegetables, most nightshade and melon vegetables, and various grains.

Suggestion: It’s okay to eat more of this kind of food on a regular basis.

In short, apart from avoiding foods high in purine during gout attacks, you don’t need to be too concerned about the purine content of each food in your daily life, and you don’t need to become a vegetarian because of this. Instead, you should pay attention to the combination of meat and vegetables and have a balanced diet.