Pork and Gout: What to Eat, What to Avoid

Higher consumption of pork, other kinds of red meat, and organ meats (including liver, sweetbreads, tongue, and kidney) increases the risk of recurrent gout attacks. Even though it's a red meat, pork is often referred to as “the other white meat” because it is a source of lean protein like poultry. Pork contains a moderately high amount of purines, which can contribute to joint pain in gouts.

Knowing the difference between different cuts of pork and cooking methods, as well as the recommended daily amounts of pork protein for people with gout, is important to maintaining a low-purine diet. Pork can be part of a healthy gout diet as long as you follow some general guidelines on how much to eat and how to cook it. 

Nutritional Value of Pork

Pork is an excellent source of thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, and phosphorus. It also contains zinc and potassium. Loin cuts like pork tenderloin, sirloin pork chop, and sirloin pork roast are all excellent sources of lean protein. These cuts can be part of a healthy gout diet. Lean protein is also a good choice for people looking to lose or maintain weight for gout-related health reasons.

But pork can also be a significant source of unhealthy saturated fats and cholesterol. This is particularly true of fattier and highly processed cuts like pork belly, ribs, and sausages. Consuming these cuts makes it easy to exceed The American Heart Association’s (AHA) recommended daily intake of saturated fat (13 g). Processed meats are also known human carcinogens. 

Pork is also a calorie-dense choice that can make maintaining a healthy weight challenging without proper portion control. Excess weight and obesity is a well-recognized risk factor for gout and gout attacks.

Best Cuts

Nutrition, calories, and purine amounts are all dependent on the cut of meat. All organ meats, including pig liver, heart, kidney, and brain, will be in the high-purine category and should be avoided.

Keep portions to the AHA’s recommended serving size (3 ounce portion or the size of a deck of cards).

If you have gout attacks, you should avoid high-purine cuts and products of pork. You can eat pork cuts in the lower purine categories in moderation. Be sure to take into consideration your cooking methods and other foods you eat to get a more accurate idea of how much purine you're consuming in total.

Cooking Tips

How you cook your pork changes its total fat and purine content. Research has shown that rinsing foods (including pork products like bacon) with water and cooking them are effective ways to reduce total purines.

Be sure to cook with gout-friendly methods, which means choosing moist or dry heat methods like steaming, baking, or roasting, rather than deep frying. Watch the ways you marinate, season, and prepare your pork too. Experts say high-fat dairy and rich breading batters are high in purines and should be avoided in gout patients.

Highly processed sugars commonly found in commercially made marinades and sauces should also be avoided or used very sparingly. Know that purines release into meat juices when cooked so you should avoid stewing pork or cooking pork using single-pot methods. It's better to cook your pork on its own and then add it to your meal.