Are sprouts good for gout patients?



Sprouts are a valuable source of nutrition in the human diet and offer great benefits, but as with any other food you may need to exercise caution in your consumption if suffering from certain conditions. Sprouts can include any type of edible seeds that can quite naturally be sprouted and consumed after it sprouts. This would mean that sprouts therefore include grains like wheat and maize, seeds like alfalfa and radish, as well as legumes like Bengal gram and mung.  

From the above explanation of sprouts it should be quite obvious that sprouts include quite a variety of foods and their nutritional value range could also vary just as wildly. While some people recommend adding sprouts to a diet for gout others advise against it. I wouldn’t advice you to include them either unless you are sure that the specific variety you choose to consume is low in purines. A diet low in purines is recommended for gout patients as the condition is caused by an excess presence of uric acid in the body. This is in fact a product resultant from the break down of purines. The consumption of foods that are high in purines is therefore believed to escalate uric acid levels, increasing the risk of gout attacks. For this reason you need to avoid purine rich foods.

Bean sprouts and Brussels sprouts are however without a doubt very low in purines. Including them in your diet would therefore be a great idea. Foods that you should avoid however would include beer, gravies, yeast, organ meat (brains, kidney, liver), beer, anchovies, meat extracts, sardines, mackerel, and herrings. Both saltwater and freshwater fish, shellfish, eel, poultry, meat soups, asparagus, cauliflower, oatmeal, bran, whole grain breads and eggs should be consumed in moderation. Foods that are low in purines can be consumed without any inhibition. These would include breads and cereals of the refined variety, peanut butter, nuts, vegetables like spinach and radish, fruits like raspberry, pineapple and plums, or tofu and yogurt.

According to some individuals consuming strawberries and cherry juice can be quite helpful. The chemicals in dark berries are actually believed to promote or facilitate a reduction in the inflammation and bring down the uric acid levels. Fish of the oily variety like salmon may also help as would flax seed and olive oil. Keep in mind however that dietary factors alone will not suffice to control this condition.

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