Your body creates uric acid naturally as a byproduct of the process of breaking down purines. Purines are compounds that typically occur within a wide range of different animal-based and plant-based foods, making them difficult to completely avoid in any average diet. Your kidneys work to remove the uric acid from the blood and excrete it from your body in the form of urine. However, if your diet is too rich in foods that contain a particularly high purine concentration, you may find that you have become the victim of problems such as kidney stones or gout, which is a significantly painful type of arthritis.

If you already suffer from gout, or you would like to avoid a problem that you know to be relatively common within your family history, then you may want to use a list of foods high in uric acid to learn which items to avoid.

Seafood, Poultry And Meat:

The first place to start when creating a list of foods high in uric acid, is with poultry, seafood, and meat. These three items rank close to the top of a list of any food with a high content of purine. Usually, foods containing a large amount of purine will be measured through milligrams of uric acid per 100 grams of food. Generally, any food that has 400 mg or more of uric acid will be considered as a high-purine content food, and therefore should be avoided.

Many meat extracts are high in purine compounds, so it’s important to avoid meat-based stews and soups that contain stock or broth prepared from concentrated meat extract.

Vegetables And Fruits:

Another thing to consider when creating a list of foods high in uric acid, is that many vegetables and fruits are typically low in purine content, meaning that they can be eaten freely by people suffering from such health issues. However, one particular food in the category of fruit and vegetables does fall into the category of high-purine and this is the dried boletus mushroom. Moderate-content purine fruits and vegetables include lentils and beans, soybeans, chickpeas, and sultanas.

Other Foods To Avoid:

Finally, a complete list of foods high in uric acid may also include a number of other substances, such as brewer’s yeast, baker’s yeast, dried sunflower or poppy seeds, and theobromine – a type of alkaloid that can be found within coffee, acai berries, cola drinks, chocolate, and tea.

Most health experts also recommend that people suffering from gout or uric-acid related problems should stay away from foods that are high in fat because a high-fat diet can often interfere with the ability of the kidneys to rid the blood of uric acid. For this reason, it can be useful to avoid regular ice cream, whole milk, and numerous baked goods such as cakes and muffins that may include a high amount of oil or fat. Additionally, many types of alcohol, particularly beer, can be rich in purines, and alcohol is also responsible for stimulating purine compound production, which increases your overall uric acid level.