What is the best Vegan Diet for Gout?

[Clayton]

I was thinking of adopting a vegan diet to prevent any more attacks of gout. After reading your treatise on the subject, however, I’m not as excited about that idea.

I am going through a bout right now! But, though the pain has subsided, I’m still walk and I just never want to go through this again.

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What’s your favorite vegan meal for gout?

[David]

Merged from:

Oil free Vegan Diet keep getting gout attacks

Last year I had a gout attack and went to the urgent care. There they gave me a shot of steroids, a shot to reduce inflammation and a prescription for Colcrys. That night I had a heart attack. Since then I have been on a vegan oil-free diet to reverse my heart disease. My heart disease is getting much better and I am basically healthy but I keep getting gout attacks that last for a couple of days and then reappear in a couple of months.

I do not take any prescription drugs and try to keep my body Alkaline by drinking Lemon water every morning and I eat a lot of leafy green vegetables. I do not drink alcohol, and I even cut out spinach.

My question is what can I add or subtract from my diet that will help keep the gout attacks from recurring.

I am 62 years old.
Thanks
David

[Keith Taylor]

Alkaline diet is generally good for gout. It promotes uric acid excretion. But, how do we know if that is what you need?

Anyone seeking to control gout by diet and lifestyle improvements should get their uric acid excretion rate tested.

Have you ever discussed that with your doctor, David? ❓

There are aspects of vegan diet that might be bad for gout. Are you taking any supplements, David, that might mitigate these effects? ❓

Why on earth would you give up spinach!??! ❓

That’s three questions, but the most important is: What are your recent uric acid test results? ❓

I’m glad you’re recovering from heart problems. Now, let’s tackle the gout!

[Gout Foodie]

I am a touring musician and don’t really have a doctor to check my numbers. I gave up spinach because it was the highest in purines. I usually get an attack about every other month that lasts about 4 or 5 days.

[Keith Taylor]

There’s no evidence to suggest that purines in spinach, or any other vegetable, convert to uric acid.

The gout will get worse until you get uric acid to safe levels. After spreading to all joints, uric acid crystals start to damage skin, kidneys, heart, and other organs. I’m sure it’s hard to get medical care when you’re on the road. But, it’s very important to tackle gout before it becomes even more dangerous.

Urgent care facilities don’t seem very good for gout, from what I’ve heard. They can help control the pain. But, unless you control uric acid, the attacks will continue, and get worse. It’s pointless hoping that random diet changes will make any difference. You have to measure the effects of diet changes on uric acid levels. There are walk-in labs for blood tests. Is that an option, David?

[Gout Foodie]

Thank you for the replys! I do think that the fructose has been a factor of my gout attacts. We travel a lot and bring our own food with us on the road. The only thing we snack on while driving is fruit. I am trying to follow the diets of Dr. John Mcdougall and Dr. Esselstyn of the Forks over Knives documentary. I try to keep my body alkaline by drinking hot lemon water every morning with a little baking soda in it. We always have apple cider vinegar with us and try to have a swig every day. I have read that weight loss can trigger attacts too. I don’t really want to a doctor and get my numbers because I am not going to take any prescription medicine. I believe let food be thy medicine.

[Keith Taylor]

I appreciate your views David.

Food as medicine is very important to me. Or, I should say that healthy eating should mean less medicine. For me, less medicine means that I still rely on certain pharmaceuticals. But less medicine can also mean no medicine at all. It’s a personal view.

I’ve been a firm believer in the value of alkaline diet for many years. I have not felt the need to test the effects of this, though I might start doing so soon. I believe, if I test my urine, I can probably give better quality advice about the value of alkaline diet for gout. It’s less important to me personally, because I’m happy to control my uric acid with allopurinol. But, for other gout sufferers, who want to rely on diet, alkalizing food, in a calorie controlled diet, is the best start.

I know that baking soda has some advantages in this regard. But, I cannot accept that it is a food. It is a chemical that is needed for some baking processes. But, it’s been shown that baking soda can be dangerous for gout sufferers. The main problem seems to be that baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Excess sodium is a well known problem for heart and related problems. If you are going to use chemicals, then potassium salts might be safer. But, that needs to be checked by your heart specialist. Personally, I prefer to use food sources.

Protein is always acid producing in the body. But we need it, and protein is good for gout. So protein has to be balanced. A healthy diet must include sufficient potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Those 3 minerals are best for alkalizing the body. I think they should come from food rather than chemical additives. So, on my healthy eating website, I published these lists:

• Potassium for pH Balance
• Magnesium for pH Balance
• Calcium for pH Balance

As you can see, spinach is top of the first two lists, and third in the other. It’s also a good protein source, as are asparagus and broccoli.

Rapid weight loss can trigger gout attacks. That might be gout attacks from raised uric acid from your flesh loss. Or, it might be gout attacks from old crystals dissolving because your uric acid is lower. You can only judge why if you know your uric acid levels before, during, and after the rapid weight loss period.

Less weight always means a reduced risk of future gout attacks. But, specific personal numbers are important. The only general fact is that lower weight is good, so long as you are not medically underweight. Underweight might be good for gout, but bad for other health problems. It is usually best to lose weight gradually. But, if you have had rapid weight loss that has contributed to gout, it’s in the past now. So, no point in worrying about it.

Any gout problems from fructose are those from food additives. If you’re following Forks over Knives, your whole food diet should not contain such additives. If you personally feel you are consuming too much fruit, then replace some of it with lower fructose fruit or veg. NutritionData has a useful list of high fructose foods. If you want me to provide a better list, just ask.

[Keith Taylor]

Hi Clayton,

I know that people adopt vegan diets for various reasons. But, if your main reason is for gout management, then you are right to be wary. However, I hope you read my paragraph in Why Vegan Diet is Worst for Gout:

If you are vegan, there is a lot you can do to make your diet gout-friendly. The report proves certain gout diet principles that we know about. It proves that some animal products are very good for gout. But, if your personal situation prevents you from consuming animal products, we can plan your diet around that. This is why I emphasize the need for personal diet planning. It is why I provide free personal gout diet plans. To get yours, you just have to ask in the forums.

Before I knew about this study, we discussed veganism and gout in the old gout forum occasionally. As it was never a popular topic, we never reached any great conclusions about the best vegan diet for gout. But, one positive factor did emerge: vegans tend to be skinny. So, since low weight is associated with less gout, vegans have at least one advantage. Furthermore, if we can supplement a vegan diet with those nutrients that help gout, a vegan diet could be very good for gout.

But, all of that is averages, and general points. None of which helps you as an individual gout sufferer, Clayton. So, if you want to become vegan, I can help you make a vegan diet gout-friendly. On the other hand, if you prefer vegetarian or omnivore, I can also help with other gout-friendly eating plans. Because, I always start with what you like to eat. Then, I find ways to incorporate your favorite foods into a healthy gout diet. Because, that approach is the only way to find a personal gout diet that you will stay with.

Statistics don’t make gout diets – people do!

Statistically, vegan diet is worst for gout. But, individually, it’s easier to make it gout-friendly than many other eating styles.

To conclude, Clayton, how would you like me to help you avoid gout pain in future? Either a vegan diet for gout? Or, just improve what you like to eat now?

[South India Gout Sufferer]

Abstinence and Gout

I found your page, What Gout Foods Can I Eat, helpful. But I would like to add:

As a one-off gout sufferer (SO FAR), I have taken a complete abstinence approach to reducing my Uric Acid level.
– Zero Non-Veg
– Zero Alcohol (including wine)
– Zero Sugar (even if it means consuming the dubious sugar alternatives)
And plenty of water. Cherry is not available in my part of the country (southern India), so I can’t take it. But it is easy to (culturally) be a vegetarian and a teetotaler.
Now coming to the content in the page, I would propose to highlight the ABSTINENCE MANTRA at the top. And then tell the reader If you can’t accept the mantra for reasons such as craving or cultural, read on….just a suggestion….
I like and thank your initiatives. Great effort…
I have a suggestion though. I would like to see a category which gives the latest of your writings at the top.

[GoutPal Feedback]

Where did you get your research from that a vegan diet is so high in purines? Also, yeast extract and MSG are two of the worst things for gout.

I’ve switched to a vegan diet and have researched the high purine plant based foods and stay away from them as well as processed foods that may contain MSG and yeast extract as MANY vegetarian processed foods do.

[GoutPal HelpDesk]

I’ve added this feedback here, as it was unclear which topic it refers to (posted from the gout forum index page). But this is the only topic I can find that relates to Vegan Diet and purines.

[Keith Taylor]

Thank you for your feedback. However, I’m not clear what exactly you are referring to.

Where did you get your research from that a vegan diet is so high in purines?

Please can you clarify where you read this exactly. Then I can help you and others by explaining clearly why a vegan diet is NOT high in purines.

yeast extract and MSG are two of the worst things for gout

Again, please can you clarify this. Because it sounds like one of those made-up so-called facts that we see on many Internet sites. But I cannot find any real evidence to support that assertion.

I agree with you on the value of gout sufferers avoiding processed foods. But the problems are not restricted to vegetarians and vegans. Also, I believe there are many additives in processed foods that are worse for gout sufferers than the two you mention. But I won’t expand on that until I’m clear about exactly what we are discussing here.

[nobody]

These assertions are vague enough to be meaningless but it’s easy enough to find evidence that single-cell cultures such as yeast are as high in purines (as one could have guessed).
Now eating something to which a bit of yeast has been added is of course very different from eating food made out of yeast (yes, that is a thing). There are some strange vegetarian processed foods out there, and there’s at least one study about the effect of some of them on uric acid.

For what it’s worth, animal torturers have found that MSG raises uric acid. But I hope no one would voluntarily eat that much of the stuff.

[Rebecca Nahid]

Not to be nitpicky here but rather use the term of vegan eating plan than a diet because believe me you don’t always lose weight being vegan! It’s a misconception that vegans are always skinny you can easily eat a junk food vegan diet or you can just eat healthy vegan food but too much of it.

Also you may get people that will call themselves plant-based or that they eat a plant based diet however they may still wear fur and use products tested on animals. For me vegan is a lifestyle I am cruelty free wherever possible. I remember the pictures of Beyonce and Jay Z who suddenly decided they were vegan, and visited a vegan restaurant dressed head to toe in leather!

[Keith Taylor]

Gout & Plant-based Diet

I’ve recently added more reviews of vegetarian and vegan diets at Gout & Plant-based Diet Research.

Please let me know if you want me to do a more in-depth review of these. Or if you know other relevant studies about plant-based diets for gout sufferers.

[Author]

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