Misconceptions regarding Tofu and Gout
Tofu has long been a mainstream food in Asian cultures and a staple protein in vegetarian diets. It is not only a major source of proteins but also excellent source of amino acids, iron, and calcium with many health benefits.
Tofu originated from China with a 2000 year old history and is made primarily from soya beans. Soya beans on the purines chart are considered moderately high on the scale containing 190mg of purines per 100g. It is this which causes some to believe that Tofu is bad for gout patients.
This belief is false as during the manufacturing process of Tofu, much of the purines in Soya beans are lost. Infact a study conducted by a group of medical researchers in Japan investigated the effects of Tofu ingestion on uric acid metabolism against gout patients concluded that there was an increase in uric acid clearance and uric acid secretion in gout patients after consuming Tofu. Contrary to some misguided believes it is recommended that Tofu is a preferable source of protein especially for gout patients.
Uric acid clearance was significantly increased from 6.86 ml/min to 7.86ml/min, 8.65ml/min and 8.45 ml/min (p < 0.05, p <0.05, p < 0.05, respectively) after Tofu ingestion. There was no significant differences of the increase in uric acid clearance between healthy and gout patients. However, uric acid clearance was not increased in gout patients with uric acid clearance > 6.0 ml/min, compared with healthy and gout patients with decreased uric acid clearance.
If you are a gout patient you want to be secreting as much uric acid as possible to prevent it from building up in your body. So next time you have a gout attack, make sure you consume more Tofu!
Not all Soy products are equal
Not all soy products are created equal. Soy milk is disastrous for Gout patients while Soya sauce in fact does not contain much purines as the fermenting process of soy removes purines. For more information on Soy Milk please visit my post here.
References: Effect of Tofu (bean curd) ingestion and on uric acid metabolism in healthy and gouty subjects.
Yamakita J1, Yamamoto T, Moriwaki Y, Takahashi S, Tsutsumi Z, Higashino K.
