According to the Mayo Clinic, “Gout is a common and complex form of arthritis that can affect anyone.
It’s characterized by sudden, severe attacks of pain, swelling, redness, and tenderness in one or more joints, most often in the big toe.”
Gout is a very painful condition that appears to be quite responsive to the contents of one’s diet.
So what about carrots, are they ok to eat if you have gout?
Eating carrots in reasonable amounts could be a good choice if you have gout.
Carrots are fairly low in purines and also have a considerable amount of fiber, which may be beneficial in reducing symptoms of gout and improving uric acid metabolism.
However, it’s important to realize that there are no magical foods that will cure your gout.
Gout is an inflammatory disease, and you may find relief from your symptoms if you can find ways to decrease overall systemic inflammation.
Can I eat carrots if I have gout?
Carrots may be a good food to incorporate if you struggle with high uric acid levels and gout flare-ups, as they are a minimally processed whole food with some fiber and a low level of fructose and purines.
However, it’s important when dealing with any disease of inflammation — gout included — to avoid any types of foods that are inflammatory for you.
So if you don’t tolerate carrots well, it would be a mistake to eat them on a regular basis if you’re dealing with gout.
First of all, it would be most beneficial for you to discuss optimal food choices with your doctor, assuming that your doctor is well-versed in nutrition.
There is no “one size fits all” diet for any condition, including gout.
Self-experimentation would also be beneficial if you’re dealing with a chronic inflammatory condition like gout.
Foods that may work well for one person may not work well for you, but you’ll never find out unless you try them out for yourself.
As a general rule, you should avoid or minimize foods that cause inflammation, especially if you have a chronic inflammatory condition like gout.
The problem is that different foods may be inflammatory for different people, so how can anyone know what to eat?
The only real way to discover what an anti-inflammatory diet is for you is to have a continually curious mind and be constantly willing to experiment and tweak things if you’re not getting the results you want.
If you notice a consistent recurrence of any of the following symptoms that signify excessive inflammation, especially after eating certain foods, take notice:
- Brain fog
- Excessive fatigue
- Trouble sleeping
- Flare-up of disease symptoms (i.e., gout attacks if you have gout, asthma attacks if you have asthma)
- Digestive symptoms (consistent bloating, diarrhea, nausea or abdominal pain)
- Joint pain or swelling
A good way to begin the process of identifying troublesome foods for you is to do some type of elimination diet, such as the Whole 30.
See how you feel about the more restrictive diet.
Do your symptoms improve?
Then reintroduce foods one at a time and notice if symptoms come back when you eat certain foods.
Are broccoli and carrots good for gout?
Broccoli and carrots may be good food choices if you’re trying to take control of your gout symptoms.
Broccoli and carrots both have vitamin C, which can help reduce your chances of gout attacks (according to The Arthritis Foundation).
They both have significant antioxidant activity, which may be beneficial in fighting overall inflammation.
They also have fiber, which may bolster the clearance of uric acid in your body.
As noted in the above section, broccoli and carrots may look good on paper, but if you don’t tolerate them well or just don’t like eating them, don’t attempt to force them into your diet.
Your best bet is to discover the foods you do well with and design your diet around those foods.
Interestingly, it’s often thought that diets high in animal products increase one’s risk of gout since many types of meat contain higher levels of purines.
However, this study found that even strictly purine-free diets don’t reduce serum uric acids levels all that much.
And while some would claim that plant-based diets are the way to go to control gout flare-ups, others have claimed relief of their symptoms by following a meat-based diet.
The takeaway? Experiment and find the best diet for you — a diet that you enjoy following and that allows you to keep overall inflammation low (which will hopefully improve gout symptoms).
Are carrots high in purines?
Purines are a precursor to uric acid that may exacerbate gout.
Purines are present in all types of foods, but are generally higher in foods like red meat, some types of seafood, turkey, and organ meats.
Carrots are considered a food that is very low in purines, containing less than 50 mg per 100 grams of food.
According to a Livestrong article on “Vegetables for Gout Patients,”
“Uric acid forms when your body breaks down purines in food.
High levels can result from an overproduction of uric acid, a problem excreting it in urine or both.
As the compound accumulates, it forms needlelike crystals in the tissues of joints, eventually causing pain.
Choosing low-purine vegetables can help lower blood levels of uric acid, lessening the likelihood of crystal formation if you have gout.”
It’s important to remember that as noted in the previous section, even avoiding purines entirely likely wouldn’t change your uric acid levels to any significant degree, so it may not be worth the effort.
Eating an anti-inflammatory diet — one that is an anti-inflammatory diet for you, not just the one touted by today’s social media influencers — is probably the best dietary strategy to follow to reduce the severity of gout.
However, if you’re still looking to reduce your dietary intake of purines, this study will likely be a good resource for you.
It was conducted in Japan and various foods were tested for their overall purine level.
Foods were then sorted into five categories:
- Category 1 — very low purine (<50 mg/100 g food)
- Category 2 — low purine (50-100 mg/100 g food)
- Category 3 — moderate purine (100-200 mg/100 g food)
- Category 4 — high purine (200-300 mg/100 g food)
- Category 5 — very high purine (>300 mg/100 g food)
Examples of “very low purine” foods include eggs, carrots, cucumbers, and various types of salmon roe.
Examples of “very high purine” foods include dried shiitake mushrooms and dried nori seaweed.
Examples of foods that lie in the middle — “moderate purine” foods — include broccoli sprouts, certain cuts of beef (especially organ meats), and chicken breast and leg.
I’m Chris Watson & the Founder of EatForLonger.com. I’m a food and wellbeing enthusiast researching and sharing foodstuffs and simple food-based concepts, such as fasting and clean eating.
I hope it inspires you to make tiny changes to what you eat and when you eat while optimizing your healthspan and all-around well-being.
Read more About Me here.