Determination of total purine and purine base content of 80 food products to aid nutritional therapy for gout and hyperuricemia

Abstract

The aim of this work is to facilitate the nutritional therapy of gout and hyperuricemia. In Japan, patients with gout or hyperuricemia are recommended to consume less than 400 mg of dietary purines per day. When receiving nutritional therapy for gout or hyperuricemia, purine-rich foods (>200 mg/100 g) should be eaten in even lower quantities. The purine content of foods reported in this study are as follows: noodles, 0.6–12.1 mg/100 g; bread, 4.4 mg/100 g; peas or seeds, 19.6–67.1 mg/100 g; dairy, 0.0–1.4 mg/100 g; Japanese vegetables, 0.9–47.1 mg/100 g; seasonings, 0.7–847.1 mg/100 g; meat or fish, 19.0–385.4 mg/100 g; fish milt, 375.4–559.8 mg/100 g; and supplements, 81.9–516.0 mg/100 g. Foods containing very large amounts of purine (>300 mg/100 g) included anchovy, cutlassfish (hairtail), cod milt, globefish milt, dried Chinese soup stock, dried yeast, a Euglena supplement, and a Lactobacillus supplement. When eating these high-purine food or supplements, the quantity taken at one meal should be limited, especially milt because they typically consumed amount of 20–30 g is equivalent to 75–168 mg total purines. This is 20%–40% of the recommended daily amount (400 mg/day) for patients with gout or hyperuricemia. Thus, these patients should restrict the amount of purine-rich foods they consume. Good dietary habits with a good balance of nutrients are recommended.

Keywords:

• Gout
• hyperuricemia
• nutritional therapy
• purine-rich food
• determination of purine

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Gout and Uric Acid Foundation of Japan.