Beer consumption frequently results in gout. Beer should be avoided as it can trigger gout episodes. After receiving a gout diagnosis, are there any beers you can still consume?
While gout normally necessitates a complete cessation of beer consumption, non-purine beers are the exception because they do not result in gout attacks. Japanese breweries produce the majority of non-purine beers, albeit it might be challenging to find them in the United States and the United Kingdom.
In this article, we will discuss purine in beers, and purine-free beers that are well-known such as Sapporo Umami Shibori, Suntory All-Free, and Stella Artois Solstice.
Table of Contents
- What Are Purines?
- Are There Purine-Free Beers?
- Best Beers for Gout: Purine-Free Beer List
- FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
What Are Purines?
Purines are a substance to pay particular attention to for persons with gout. This can be difficult because they are in almost everything, but it is doable.
Organic compounds known as purines are composed of a mix of nitrogen and carbon atoms. They are created by the human body and taken in through food and beverages.
The DNA and RNA of a cell include endogenous purines, which are purines that can be found in the human body. The purines in these cells are converted into uric acid when they die.
A similar thing happens when purine is obtained from outside sources (exogenous purines), but the purine isn’t released when a cell dies.
After that, either this uric acid is absorbed or expelled. The body absorbs around 90% of it, while the remaining 10% is excreted.
Beer is known to be a high-purine beverage. All ordinary beer has significant purine levels relative to other alcoholic beverages, while certain beers have higher purine levels than others.
How Do Purines Affect Gout?
This uric acid is what makes gout problematic. Purines can result in the production of uric acid, which has harmful effects on gout sufferers. Purine has an impact on gout by raising uric acid levels in the blood. As a consequence of purine metabolism, uric acid is created. Urate crystals may develop in and around numerous joints if blood uric acid levels become excessive.
Hyperuricemia is the medical term for a uric acid overdose. Everyone has some uric acid in their circulation since the human body produces purines. Hyperuricemia signs and symptoms can start to appear at concentrations higher than 7 mg/dL.
When consumed, high purine-containing foods and beverages can raise the plasma concentration above this mark. Gout, however, is not necessarily the outcome of hyperuricemia. Purines, however, will have a negative effect on gout sufferers if they raise their uric acid levels.
This rise may lead to gout flare-ups. This may occur with any uric acid increase. Sometimes, like with eating foods high in purines, it’s because there is more uric acid than usual. Sometimes a flare-up results from a problem with uric acid elimination.
What Happens if You Drink Beer When You Have Gout?
It’s challenging to stop drinking beer. You have probably already been told to do this if you have gout. It is recommended to completely stop drinking beer, while it might be okay in moderation.
You run the risk of bringing on an attack of gout if you consume beer. Uric acid will be produced by processing the purines in the beer. A gout attack will start if the beer raises your uric acid levels above the danger point.
As was already discussed, beer not only increases the number of purines in your body but also slows down the clearance of uric acid. Beer is not a fantastic option due to these exogenous purines and alcohol’s impact on the human body.
Exogenous purines have a negative effect that can be lessened through a variety of techniques. These include using medication, drinking a lot of water, and limiting all purine sources. If you wish to keep drinking beer, talk to your doctor about your options.
Is Non-Alcoholic Beer Better for Gout?
Since regular beer contains a lot of purines, thinking about non-alcoholic beer is only sensible. In some ways, it is healthier after all. For what reasons, not these ones?
Unfortunately, the purine content of non-alcoholic beer is not much better. You might discover a non-alcoholic beer that has lower purine levels because there is some variance in the number of purines in all beers. However, they are often compared as a whole.
The same materials used to make alcoholic beer are also used to make non-alcoholic beer. Yeast is the main issue, which you can learn more about in our beer ingredients article.
Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beers employ the same yeast. This implies that the beer’s style and filtering are more important than its alcohol concentration. However, several non-alcoholic beers have also been developed that are purine-free.
Are There Purine-Free Beers?
There are some beers that don’t contain purines. Brewers do this in an effort to accommodate beer drinkers who have gout. The issue is how to make this happen. Sadly, some brewers are keeping their trade secrets to themselves.
Beer would need to undergo extensive processing or special filtering in order to be purine-free. Enzymatic degradation would be involved during processing. To remove the purines by filtering, specialised technologies would be required.
One technique of elimination involves consuming the purines with microbes and then filtering to remove the microorganisms. Using a purine nucleoside phosphorylase to initiate a process that lowers purine concentrations is another approach taken.
Activated carbon could be used for filtering. It would be necessary for the activated carbon to adhere to carefully developed guidelines to ensure that just the purines are removed. This approach, nevertheless, can cause some unintended modifications to the brew.
Best Beers for Gout: Purine-Free Beer List
Naturally, beers without purines are the best for persons with gout. Extremely low-purine beers are sometimes acceptable, but after a while, the cost can pile up. Remember that alcohol can cause flare-ups even if there are no purines in the beer.
Breweries in Japan have made progress in creating beers without purines. Sadly, their beers are difficult to find outside of Japan. There are going to be a lot of Japanese beers on this list.
Here are a few of the best beers for people with gout:
These beers are all lagers and contain no purine except for the Stella Artois Soltice lager which has little amounts and is 4.5% ABV compared to the others being 0% ABV.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Sapporo Umami Shibori, Suntory All-Free, Asahi Dry Zero Free, Kirin Zero Ichi, and Stella Artois Solstice are examples of the lowest purine beers available.
Sapporo Umami Shibori, Suntory All-Free, Asahi Dry Zero Free, and Kirin Zero Ichi are all examples of purine-free beer.
Sapporo Umami Shibori, Suntory All-Free, Asahi Dry Zero Free, and Kirin Zero Ichi, are excellent choices of beer to drink with gout as they’re all purine-free.
