Mushrooms are very low in kilojoules and help control appetite, making them ideal for weight control. As weight loss reduces gout attacks in overweight people, mushrooms can have an additional benefit for the gout sufferer.
However, there is no evidence that certain fruits, vegetables or mushrooms cause gout or make it worse. Evidence to date strongly indicates that non-animal foods like mushrooms, fruits, legumes, nuts and vegetables may be protective against gout and therefore should not be restricted in those that suffer from gout. In fact, a high consumption of fruit, vegetables and mushrooms is linked to a lower risk of gout.
In the past, the most common dietary advice was to avoid purine-rich foods like animal flesh and offal, seafood, yeast extracts, peas, legumes, lentils, spinach, asparagus and mushrooms. However, there is no evidence that a vegetable or mushroom with a modest amount of purine will raise uric acid levels and trigger a gout attack.
A study of over 47 000 men over 12 years (aged 40-75 at the start of the study) found that a “moderate intake of purine-rich vegetables is not associated with an increased risk of gout”, whether purine-rich vegetables were considered as a food group or as individual vegetables (Choi 2004).
A study of 92 men with gout and 92 controls found no link between purine intake and the occurrence of gout, or between fruit and vegetable intake and gout (Lyu 2003). In fact, say the authors: “Our data supports the observation that increased consumption of foods from plant sources, especially fruit and vegetables, reduce the risk of gout development.”
