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Diet for gouty arthritis
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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A diet for gouty arthritis is necessary, since this disease develops due to a violation of nitrogen metabolism in the body, in particular, the metabolism of purine derivatives (purine nucleotides), and excess content of the product of this metabolism in the blood - uric acid. It is the urate crystals of uric acid not excreted by the kidneys that settle in the tissues of the joints and cause pain.
[ Treatment of gouty arthritis with diet
Treatment of gouty arthritis with diet is aimed at correcting nitrogen metabolism, or more precisely, reducing the intake of nitrogen compounds with food - animal and plant proteins. Consumption of protein products increases the content of endogenous purine nucleotides. Purine nucleotides (necessary for the production of nucleic acids and the synthesis of proteins by the body's cells) are transformed into free purine bases by enzymatic hydrolytic deamination, the subsequent oxidation of which ends with the production of the final product in the form of uric acid.
Uric acid, which is formed as a result of the breakdown of endogenous purine substances, is needed by the body because it serves as an antioxidant and helps protect our blood vessels from cholesterol deposits.
In addition, protein foods promote increased formation of hydrogen nitride in the intestines - ammonia, which is a product of the vital activity of intestinal bacteria that decompose incompletely digested proteins. But ammonia is not needed by the body and is even harmful, and our liver is engaged in its conversion into urea.
With an excess of nitrogen compounds in food products, as well as with a decrease in the activity of purine metabolism enzymes (phosphoribopherase, guanylate kinase, xanthine oxidase and almost three dozen more enzymes), uric acid salts crystallize especially actively, affecting cartilage and joints: gouty arthritis develops. It should be borne in mind that the process of uric acid crystal formation accelerates the shift of the acid-base balance of the body to the acidic side.
For people with this pathology, diet No. 6 according to Pevzner is suitable, which is prescribed for gout and uraturia - kidney stone disease with urate stones. The diet for gouty arthritis refers to alkalizing therapeutic nutrition with a restriction of purine-containing products and simple carbohydrates.
Diet menu for gouty arthritis
The diet menu for gouty arthritis can only be approximate, and the main principle of choosing dishes, as well as the recipes used in cooking the diet for gouty arthritis, should take into account the composition of food products that are not recommended for use with this disease.
Breakfast can include cheesecakes, omelette, porridge or toast with low-fat cheese. The best snack (second breakfast) is fruit or low-fat yogurt.
For a full lunch, you can prepare various cream soups, vegetable soups with cereals, beetroot soup, and lean borscht for the first course. Daily consumption of vegetable salad seasoned with vegetable oil will not only help with joint problems, but will also significantly facilitate bowel function.
A diet for gouty arthritis is a healthy diet that will benefit not only your joints, but your entire body.
What should you not eat if you have gouty arthritis?
Nutritionists have compiled an impressive list of products that should be avoided in every possible way if you have gouty arthritis. This list includes: red meat (especially veal and game); all meat by-products; animal fats; legumes (beans, ripe peas, lentils); mushrooms, asparagus, sorrel, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, cabbage, spinach.
What else should you not eat with gouty arthritis? You should not eat meat broths and sauces, bacon and lard, fatty sea and river fish, canned fish (especially herring, sardines, tuna and sprats in oil), seafood and crustaceans, yeast bread and pastries. Alcohol is absolutely contraindicated, including beer, as well as soft drinks.
Regarding poultry, especially chicken, which is considered a dietary product. If 100 g of chicken contains 125 mg of purine bases, then the same amount of turkey contains half as much. However, during the cooking of any meat, almost half of the purines end up in the broth.
Cauliflower is also considered a "purine" vegetable. But if 100 g of cauliflower produces 45 mg of uric acid when digested, the same amount of recommended buckwheat is 145 mg. Studies conducted by American nutritionists have shown that vegetables with a high purine content do not increase the risk of exacerbation of gouty arthritis. Therefore, it is simply recommended to limit vegetables such as spinach, asparagus, peas, beans, cauliflower, and mushrooms in your diet. The organic acids they contain help shift the acid-base balance of the body to the alkaline side.
What can you eat with gouty arthritis?
The best diet for gouty arthritis is vegetarian food. These are various fresh vegetables, fruits and berries; whole grains; low-fat dairy products (cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt); chicken eggs (in limited quantities), pasta, potatoes, nuts, vegetable oil.
In general, you can eat anything with gouty arthritis that does not contain a large amount of nitrogen compounds. And if a person cannot live without meat and fish, they need to be boiled, and it is not recommended to eat such food more than three times a week with a maximum daily amount of 150-170 g.
Sufficient fluid intake - one and a half to two liters per day (if the heart and kidneys are normal) - is one of the most important conditions for treating gouty arthritis with diet.
To alkalize the blood, you need to eat potatoes boiled in their skins; fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, watermelons and melons, citrus fruits and various leafy greens; onions and garlic, dishes made from zucchini, eggplant and pumpkin; natural fruit juices and green tea.
The condition closely associated with high uric acid levels is known as metabolic syndrome, and includes insulin resistance, general obesity, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol. Therefore, a diet for gouty arthritis should be low-fat and energy-balanced (within 2300-2500 kcal), only then will its observance help to gradually reduce body weight. That is why even sweets approved by nutritionists should be abandoned, replacing them with fruits and berries.