You could eat high-purine foods for years without developing obvious gout symptoms, but when symptoms do appear, any rich food source of purines could intensify problems. When crystals of uric acid, a purine byproduct, build up in your joints, the slightest pressure causes intense pain. Many other factors contribute to gout, but changes in diet are key to controlling symptoms. You should avoid some foods completely and limit consumption of many others, including beef tongue.
Gout Causes
All of your body's tissues contain a white crystalline chemical compound called purine. Metabolic processes break purine down into uric acid waste. Ninety percent of your uric acid comes from your own tissues, and the rest from food. Your kidneys filter out most of this acid and excrete it in your urine. A genetic fault prevents some people from eliminating uric acid efficiently, and the waste gradually accumulates in blood and body tissues. The problem affects men from seven to nine times as often as it does women, according to "The Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide."
Hyperuricemia
Hyperuricemia, or unusually high levels of uric acid in your blood, could result from eating too many high-purine foods. If you're in good health and eat too many anchovies, organ meats or beans -- all high in purines -- your kidneys quickly correct the hyperuricemia. If you're overweight, drink too much alcohol or have a family history of gout, eating high-purine foods could increase the frequency and severity of arthritic gout attacks. Beef tongue contains high levels of purine, but so do many other animal and vegetable foods. Control of gout requires avoiding the highest-purine foods completely and limiting intake of others.
Foods to Avoid
If you suffer from true arthritic gout, you should completely avoid the foods with the highest purine content. That includes all organ meats such as kidney, liver, brain and heart. Sardines, mackerel, herring and anchovies, as well as all meat broths and gravies also contain risky levels of purines. Dried legumes, mushrooms, and asparagus could cause problems, too. Enough essential foods contain significant purine levels that you'll need professional help to plan a nourishing and effective diet. Limiting portion sizes and eating some foods less often could help you meet the guidelines your doctor sets.
Low-Purine Diet
A typical low-purine diet allows small amounts of food with higher purine content. With your doctor's approval, you could enjoy four servings each week from relatively high-purine foods such as cauliflower, lima beans, ham, salmon or oysters, according to the Eastern Carolina Family Practice Center. Calf tongue falls in a higher-purine category along with bacon, lentils and trout, so this should be limited to one serving weekly. In any case, most of your food should come from low-purine sources such as nonfat dairy products, approved vegetables, fruit, rice and potatoes.
References
- "The Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide"; Gout -- Joint Pain and More; January 2008
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease; Gout; May 2010
- Eastern Carolina Family Practice Center; Gout; Jo Bartlett, et al.; June 1990
- Langone Medical Center; Low-Purine Diet; Maria Adams; March 2011
