GoutPal Interactive

This post is looking for a….for lack of a better term….thumbs up/down regarding specific foods. I am not looking for another rehash of the “everything in moderation” speech.

In all my reading, I have found inconsistant reccomendations regarding the following foods and welcome your input.

Chocolate - I am well aware theobromine is listed high on the list at http://www.goutpal.com/foods-h…..-acid.html. Does this mean that in general I should avoid chocolate whenever possible?

Brewer's Yeast - another bad guy favorite, but I also have seen things like “Beer, Pilsner lager beer, regular beer, German” rated very low on the same page. (I love Pilsner so I am looking for a ray of hope with this one. (i.e. 2-6 beers once a week at most))

These next few are all over the board and I dont know what to think…so what do you think?

Strawberries (repeatedly read these are bad), Poppyseeds (like in a bagel, muffin or bread), Sunflower Seeds (unsalted), soybeans (as tofu or steamed edamame) and Tuna fish (canned with water – a common staple in our American home).

Lastly, what about Spam? I bought a whole case (8 cans of the low sodium style)  and now I am wondering if I should continue to make the pan-fried (no oil) spam sandwiches I enjoy.

Thanks!

Post edited 4:15 pm – June 12, 2009 by GoutPal

I agree with everything that zip2play says except:

• The dog food list is the same as mine, but without the attribution for the source of their data
• The first 2 items on the menu are egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon, so why is Spam compulsory? (sorry, it’s taken me 38 ½ years to get that off my chest)

Specifics:

1. Chocolate has so little theobromine in it that it’s purine count is irrelevant. Cocoa solids have antioxidant properties, but I know of know specific research regarding gout. Get a taste for 80% or 90% chocolate, and moderation goes out of the window.
2. The correct way to take brewers yeast is as you suggest. It is supposed to be used for producing drinks, not as a dietary supplement. As with chocolate and theobromine, the amount purines you get from beer pales into insignificance compared to the curry afterwards. 2-6? These are steins, right?
3. I cannot see anything at all wrong with the other stuff. If I had a dollar for every time someone said that a particular food was bad for gout, then promptly shut up when asked for details, then I would get rid of the adverts. I guess cherry producers love to put strawberries in a bad light – I prefer to put them in my mouth.
4. I know I’m supposed to avoid everything in moderation, but don’t you think 8 cans is just a little bit excessive? I’ve found that 2 cans is more than enough.

GoutPal said:

Post edited 11:15 am – June 12, 2009 by GoutPal

---

Specifics:

1. Chocolate has so little theobromine in it that it’s purine count is irrelevant. Cocoa solids have antioxidant properties, but I know of know specific research regarding gout. Get a taste for 80% or 90% chocolate, and moderation goes out of the window.
2. The correct way to take brewers yeast is as you suggest. It is supposed to be used for producing drinks, not as a dietary supplement. As with chocolate and theobromine, the amount purines you get from beer pales into insignificance compared to the curry afterwards. 2-6? These are steins, right?
3. I cannot see anything at all wrong with the other stuff. If I had a dollar for every time someone said that a particular food was bad for gout, then promptly shut up when asked for details, then I would get rid of the adverts. I guess cherry producers love to put strawberries in a bad light – I prefer to put them in my mouth.
4. I know I’m supposed to avoid everything in moderation, but don’t you think 8 cans is just a little bit excessive? I’ve found that 2 cans is more than enough.

@Goutpal

1. I am a big fan of milk chocolate. I am not a fan of dark chocolate so I am glad to hear I shouldnt completely eliminate it from my diet.

2. 2-6 12 ounce bottles/cans of beer maybe once a week. (Usually Corona or PBR these days)

3. Its hard to translate the technical numbers into something useful. Poppyseeds rated high – but similiar to the theobromide issue, I have no idea how many bagels I would have to consume to hit those levels. That is the downside to all the technical data.

4. I shop at Costco, the price of case there is equal to buying two cans in the grocery store. It will take me a year or more to eat it all since I only eat it about once a week at most.

@Trev

Thanks for the additional response.

Post edited 12:49 pm – July 25, 2009 by zip2play

Just remember, if you DON'T like SPAM always order the SPAM BACON EGGS and SPAM becasue it has the least amount of SPAM.

(My SPAM source is Shop-Rite. During CAN-CAN sale…3 for $4 and I buy a case…I like the Reduced Salt best.)

Dietary control for gout was what passed for ”treatment” when there were no uric acid controlling drugs. It never worked THEN and it doesn't now. A trip to Lourdes is probably just as effective and a lot more pleasant. It would be nice if it did work…but it really is a complete waste of time and effort. I don't want to throw cold water on anyone trying non-drug methods just calling a spade a spade.

I still giggle when I read the two BIG offenders…sweetbreads and anchovies. Is ANYTHING funnier than that? Gee, a day without sweetbreads is like a day without sunshine…who can eat their breakfast cereal without covering them with sweetbreads?

“But doctor, my toe is purple but I don't even know what a sweetbread IS!”

My opinion: Mercola is a VERY rich QUACK.

Post edited 4:17 pm – July 26, 2009 by zip2play

On theobromine:

Chemically it is dimethy xanthine and xanthine is synonymous with purine. Now to take it one step further, caffeine is TRI-methyl xanthine and IS present in high amounts in coffee.

A xanthine molecule is for all intents an purposes a uric acid molecule with some methyls hung onto it and thus is almost gram for gram convertible to uric acid.

So, a single 6 ounce cup of decent coffee has about 160 mg. caffeine…normal humans can excrete about 750 mg. uric aciid per day. That math is a bit scary, isn't it? And I drink 50 ounces a day.

But chocolate isn't really that innsignificant a source of xanthines…a 1.45 ounce bar of Hersey's Special Dark (my fave) has 184 mg. of theobromine although a milk chocolate bar of the same weight has only 74 mg.

Trev, we will have to agree to disagree…if there were proper consumer  laws against fraudulent medical claims, Mercola would spend his entire life behind bars. He's a charleton.

I've seen plenty of warnings over HFCS and don't need telling twice. They are carbs anyway and even raw fruit- normally OK'd for diet, will work against weight loss and Leptin balance, The possibly overweight, high glycerides, pre diabetic gout sufferer doesn't need any more hobbling by non foods like these.

HFCS was enquired after here earlier , but without direct experience of it , I held off commenting, so I'm glad to chip in on your story!

To clarify my earlier mention of the beer and Gout study- a link to one summary of Chois' work is this:

http://www.thelancet.com/journ…..5/fulltext

I think there must be later articles but essentially the same message.

A good enough source to keep the argument going as many real ale fans just don't want to beleive it!     Sad, but true… I like the stuff, but in fairly small amounts nowadays.

Post edited 6:05 am – April 26, 2010 by odo

Goutgal said:

 Unless it's my imagination, the steel cut oatmeal may cause some twinges.

You're probably right GG: Oats are moderately high in purines (94mg per 100 gr) not much less than chicken (110) It's something I've been considering lately too because my UA levels have crept up for no discernable reason – might give the muesli a miss and see what happens.

What about barley Trev? Or do you think there's no advantage over wheat and oats? I haven't been able to find any info re: purines

I've never tried millet. In fact, I don't know what it looks like, where to buy it, or how to “fix” it. Is it only available like a bag of flour? Are there millet cereals?