Certain foods are known to contribute to gout pain, while others may reduce your symptoms. Ready to trade beer and shellfish for coffee and yogurt?
Dorothy Foltz-Gray and Quinn Phillips Updated on June 7, 2024
After a satisfying meal the night before, you wake up with a really grouchy big toe — inflamed, throbbing, and red. Could this be an attack of gout?
Gout is a form of inflammatory arthritis that typically affects men older than 40 and women after menopause, according to the Arthritis Foundation. [ 1 ] It’s caused by a buildup of uric acid, which is a by-product of chemicals known as purines that are found in your body’s cells — and in many foods.
In people with gout, uric acid builds up in your blood faster than your kidneys can remove it and excrete it in your urine. Once uric acid builds up in your blood, it forms needle-like crystals that lodge around joints, often in the big toe. The result? Potentially excruciating pain.
Gout tends to cause painful attacks that build up over 12 to 24 hours and then go away on their own. It’s possible to have only one gout attack in your life, or to have them only every few years. But some people experience recurrent attacks that become more severe over time. [ 1 ]
To get a definitive diagnosis of gout, you’ll need to have a needle inserted into your joint to take a fluid sample that shows uric acid crystals, according to Joan M. Von Feldt, MD, a rheumatologist and emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
But your doctor may strongly suspect gout — and recommend certain dietary changes, or even prescribe medications — based on your symptoms and the appearance of your affected joint. [ 2 ]
Dr. Von Feldt notes that while dietary changes are important in the management of gout, they may not be enough to resolve your symptoms. “Some patients can have an essentially purine-free, alcohol-free diet and still have episodes of gout,” she says. “You can’t necessarily control gout with diet.” What’s more, Von Feldt says, quality of life is an important consideration for treating gout — including being able to eat a variety of foods in moderation. If you can’t follow a normal diet without having gout attacks, “Then an adjustment of your medications or starting a new medication is essential.” While dietary changes alone may not eliminate painful gout attacks, it’s still important to know about gout-fighting foods — and avoid or limit those that trigger attacks or make your pain worse. Here are some of the best and worst foods for people with gout.
Gout trigger foods affect everyone differently. There’s no guarantee a food that causes a painful attack in one person will affect someone else the same way — or even the same person at a different time. But certain foods and beverages, overall, have been shown to increase the risk of a gout attack.
