A healthy diet should include some beans and other occasional treats – the main thing for gout is to avoid being overweight. Most purines come from our own bodies through natural cell replacement. There is some evidence that meat purines might raise uric acid levels, but no evidence that vegetable purines are bad.

The best diet for gout is a healthy varied diet that contains a lot of fruit and vegetables. It is more important to control weight, avoid excess iron, and keep hydrated than it is to count purines.

Of course, for many people diet has nothing to do with gout. Very often it is caused by genetic factors or poor drugs for other conditions (some blood pressure medications are extremely bad for gout, but others can actually help it).

It is a lot to take in, but please feel free to discuss any gouty issues in my gout forum