Limit red meats
Red meat (especially veal and lamb) and organ meats can contain high levels of purines. Your body breaks down purines into uric acid as a waste product, which can lead to gout flare-ups. Most cuts of beef contain moderate amounts of purines, though—so limiting the amount of red meat you eat, and switching to beef from other forms of red meat, can help to reduce your risk of gout flare-ups.
Avoid high-purine fish and shellfish
Some seafood also contains high levels of purines, which your body breaks down into uric acid. High levels of uric acid in your blood can cause gout flares, so it’s best to avoid certain types of high-purine fish and shellfish. Seafood that contains high levels of can purines includes:
Instead, try switching these out for fish that contain lower levels of purines, like:
- Cod
- Haddock
- Perch
- Pike
Stop smoking
While smoking can reduce levels of uric acid in the blood, we still don’t know a lot about its impact on gout risk. But we do know that smoking cigarettes has proven to increase the risk of joint inflammation and the development of rheumatoid arthritis. So while smoking may decrease the risk of developing gout, its effects on joint inflammation can lead to flare-ups in people already living with gout.
Exercise regularly
While exercising during a gout flare-up can make inflammation and pain worse, physical activity in between flares can help to protect your joints and reduce your risk of future flare-ups.
Engaging in regular moderate- and low-intensity aerobic exercise can help reduce uric acid levels and inflammation in the body.
But it’s important not to overdo it, because continuous high-intensity physical activity can cause lactic acid to accumulate in your body, which interferes with your excretion of uric acid.
Take vitamin C
Making sure you get enough vitamin C in your daily diet has also shown promising effects on gout risk. Studies on wider populations have found that high vitamin C intake is associated with lower uric acid levels – the main cause of gout flare-ups.
While the reason for this correlation isn’t fully understood, some studies suggest that when humans evolved and lost the ability to produce uricase (which is an enzyme that can metabolize uric acid, turning it into a form that can dissolve in liquid), this caused an evolutionary adaptation that counteracts vitamin C deficiency by increasing uric acid levels in the body. So making sure you get enough vitamin C can help keep uric acid levels lower.
But right now, it’s not clear whether this association is the sole cause of reduced uric acid levels in people with high vitamin C intake. More research still needs to be conducted to explore the link between vitamin C and reduced uric acid levels.
Stay hydrated
Drinking plenty of fluids, and avoiding drinks containing fructose and alcohol can help to improve gout symptoms. Two-thirds of the body’s uric acid is excreted through the kidneys, so drinking plenty of water can help keep your kidneys working properly, and reduce uric acid levels in your system.
Aim to drink around 3 to 4 liters of water a day, and avoid stimulants like alcohol and tobacco which can dehydrate you.
Avoiding alcohol is also important, because it can increase the levels of uric and lactic acid in your body (lactic acid inhibits your body’s excretion of uric acid) which can lead to gout attacks.
It’s not clear how drinking coffee could affect gout. Data suggests that coffee could help lower risk of gout flare-ups, as it’s rich in antioxidants (which can help with uric acid excretion). One study found that the more cups of coffee people drank each day, the lower their risk of gout was. But contradicting research suggests that people with certain genetic variations linked to reduced coffee intake were at a higher risk of gout.
