I am diabetic and hypertensive.
I wanted to shift to a vegetarian diet and eventually vegan, because I understand that this would alleviate my dyslipidemia (high cholesterol and triglycerides) and lower my blood sugar. I also suffer from hyperuricemia and I have GERD and hperacidity.
Is there a way I can adopt a vegetarian/vegan diet without elevating my serum uric acid. I know that a vegetarian/vegan diet primarily relies on lentils, beans, legumes for protein but as far as I know they can aggravate and cause gout and GERD. I fear getting gout because I had undergone 3 surgeries for kidney stones (uric acid) removal within the last 10 years.
Eating vegetarian should be safe for your gout. While many vegetables including those that you mention do contain purines a recent research article in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that the vegetables that contain purines are less likely to provoke gout. The conclusion of that article was:
"Higher levels of meat and seafood consumption are associated with an increased risk of gout, whereas a higher level of consumption of dairy products is associated with a decreased risk. Moderate intake of purine-rich vegetables or protein is not associated with an increased risk of gout." (NEJM 2004;350:1093-103)
Thanks for writing,
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