If uric acid in the blood rises, this can have unpleasant consequences. A painful gout attack can threaten. Urinary and kidney stones are also possible. Of course, there are medications to lower uric acid levels. As always, these can have side effects. Side effects that are not necessary at all, as uric acid can also be lowered with uncomplicated and natural measures – but only if you are willing to get involved in the therapy yourself.

When uric acid rises

Uric acid in the blood is not bad in every case. Uric acid, for example, has an antioxidant effect in the blood and protects the blood vessels from damage caused by oxidative processes. Above a certain concentration, however, the probability of negative effects of uric acid increases.

If the uric acid level rises to 6.8 mg/dl or more (hyperuricemia), the uric acid no longer remains dissolved in the blood. Instead, so-called urate crystals are now forming. These crystals, in turn, are preferably deposited in the joints or kidneys.

If the deposit occurs in the joints, a gout attack (from approx. 8 mg/dl uric acid) is approaching in the foreseeable future. This is because the body can only tolerate the joint deposits for a certain time, then the urate crystals have to be broken down again.

This happens with the help of an inflammatory reaction, which, however, is associated with severe pain and swelling in the corresponding joint.

If the kidneys are the target of crystal deposition, kidney stones (uric acid stones) can develop from them. Therefore, if uric acid levels are high, always keep an eye on the kidneys.

Which values are good, which are bad?

Uric acid is measured in the blood (serum). It could also be measured in the urine, e.g. if kidney stones are suspected or to check how much uric acid is actually excreted. However, this would not be a routine examination.

The blood test is crucial for the diagnosis of hyperuricemia or gout.

The normal values in the blood (serum uric acid)

The normal or reference values in the blood are the following:

1. Women: about 2.5 – 6.0 mg/dl (150–360 μmol/l)
2. Men: about 3.5 – 6.5 mg/dl (210–420 μmol/l)

These values are too high

From more than 7 mg/dl (420 μmol/l), one usually speaks of hyperuricemia.

At values of more than 6 mg/dl, gout patients are often recommended medication to avoid attacks and crystal formation.

When is uric acid measured?

The measurement of uric acid is not part of the normal blood count (neither small nor major). It is only carried out if there is a reason, e.g. if there is a suspicion of gout or if you want to control existing kidney diseases.

Uric acid levels are also often checked in the case of high blood pressure, diabetes and metabolic syndrome (in addition to obesity and high blood lipid levels).

High uric acid levels: What conventional medicine does

If your uric acid level rises to levels that make you fear a gout attack, or if such attacks have already occurred, your doctor will do everything he can to lower your uric acid levels.

He or she may prescribe so-called uricosurics (e.g. probenecid). These drugs increase uric acid excretion through the urine. However, this stresses the kidneys and is therefore not an option in the case of impaired kidney functions.

So-called uricostatics are therefore prescribed more frequently. They inhibit uric acid formation. The most well-known uricostatic drug is allopurinol. Most of the time, these drugs work very well. But they can also have side effects.

Allopurinol can cause skin eczema or indigestion. The liver can be damaged and, paradoxically, kidney stones can form, i.e. what you actually want to avoid. The blood can also suffer from allopurinol ingestion, as can the nerves, so that painful neuropathies can occur.

Uricosurics are also associated with side effects. Apart from the possible overload of the kidneys, it is particularly unpleasant that a gout attack can occur at the beginning of the intake. Urinary stones are also possible.

Common side effects also include digestive problems (nausea, bloating), rashes, itching, gingivitis and hair loss – symptoms that lead to new worries, new medications and new side effects.

* Here you can find pH test strips

Why do uric acid levels rise?

At the sight of the undesirable side effects of drug uric acid reduction, it is understandable if one prefers naturopathic measures free of side effects.

The solution often becomes apparent when you look at why uric acid levels can be too high in the first place. There can be very different reasons here, although occasionally there is a combination of these reasons:

High levels due to poor diet

Uric acid is produced when purines are broken down – in the liver and small intestine. 80 percent of uric acid is produced in the liver, 20 percent in the small intestine. Purines are components of the genetic material of every cell.

Consequently, purines are always produced when the body’s own cells are broken down, but also when cells from food are broken down (which happens during the metabolism of food).

Now there are foods that are particularly rich in purines and those that contain only a few purines. Purine-rich foods can be of animal origin, but also of plant origin. If you eat healthy, i.e. preferably vegetarian and not too many purine-rich foods, then the body can easily excrete the uric acid produced with the urine and to a small extent with the stool.

However, if too many purine-rich animal foods are eaten, then a lot of uric acid is produced during their metabolism – so much that it can no longer be excreted comprehensively. It remains in the blood, so that the uric acid level rises there.

Convert purines to uric acid

In most cases, the purine and uric acid values are given in corresponding food tables. However, if you only find the purine content of a food somewhere, then you can calculate the amount of uric acid from this value:

You simply multiply the amount of purine by 2.4 and then get the amount of uric acid.

Purine-rich foods

The animal sources of purines include meat, sausage, fish and seafood in particular. Vegetable purine sources include legumes, seeds (e.g. sunflower seeds) and yeast (e.g. vegetarian spreads based on nutritional yeast).

This is how much uric acid vegetables provide

Often, some vegetables are also referred to as high in purines, such as spinach, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, broccoli and asparagus, so that basically hardly any food group would be left.

Vegetables – like almost all foods – also contain purines, simply because they consist of cells. But their purine content is comparatively low.

For example, a serving of fresh spinach (150 g) provides 75 mg of uric acid, just like 150 g of cooked broccoli. 125 g of chicken, but without the skin, already provide 200 mg of uric acid. Other actual purine bombs include the following:

This is how much uric acid meat and fish provide

The following values indicate how much uric acid (in mg) is formed when consuming 100 g of the respective food.

1. Meat Extracts 3500 mg
2. Veal Sweetbread 1200 mg
3. Oil sardines and offal 500 mg
4. Herring, salmon and tuna 250 mg
5. Ham 200 mg
6. Salami, veal loin, chop 190 mg
7. Liverwurst 180 mg
8. Cold cuts and Sausages 130 mg
9. Beef 130 mg

For gout, no more than 300 mg of uric acid

If you consider that in the acute state of a gout attack or if you cannot tolerate the uric acid-lowering medication, no more than 300 mg of uric acid per day should be produced from food, then it becomes clear that you would reach this limit very quickly with the above foods.

A less strict, but still low-purine diet provides for about 430 mg of uric acid per day or 3,000 mg per week. This amount is also quickly reached when you eat animal foods.

* Here you can find pH test strips

This is how much uric acid is provided by legumes and tofu

But what about legumes? And what about nuts and seeds? These are also warned against in connection with high uric acid levels. Here is a selection (also in mg uric acid per 100 g of food):

1. Green Peas 170 mg
2. Lentils dry 127 mg
3. Chickpeas 109 mg
4. Lentils cooked 75 mg
5. Tofu 70 mg
6. Peanuts 79 mg
7. Broad beans cooked 55 mg
8. Soy Sausages 17 mg
9. Hazelnuts 40 mg
10. Almonds 40 mg
11. Brazil nuts 22 mg
12. Sesame seeds 80 mg
13. Sunflower seeds 60 mg
14. Walnuts 25 mg

No increased risk of gout due to herbal purines

In the above list, we usually have significantly lower values for legumes, nuts and oilseeds than for meat, sausage and fish, even such low values that one would have to warn against cereals and bread if one wanted to consider legumes and nuts or seeds to be problematic with high uric acid levels.

This is because bread provides between 40 and 65 mg of uric acid per 100 g (pasta only between 20 and 35 mg).

On the other hand, vegetable purines apparently pose little problem for the uric acid-stricken body. It is now known that vegetable purine sources – even if they are very rich in purines – usually do not have such negative effects on uric acid levels as meat and fish (1).

Studies have even shown that purine-rich plant foods do not increase the risk of suffering a gout attack. So, it is not necessary to give up high-quality foods such as lentils, beans, peas, seeds or vegetables if you have to keep an eye on uric acid levels.

A case report: Lupine and its influence on uric acid levels

There was a case report published in 2015 (2): An overweight but otherwise healthy 43-year-old man (who did not exercise) had his values checked, which showed that they were mostly worse than the normal values (blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid and liver values).

He then did a 6-month program in which he turned his life upside down and was scientifically accompanied. From now on, he consumed 100 g of lupins per day, no more than 50 g of animal protein, no more than 50 g of fat and a maximum of 200 g of carbohydrates, as well as (for weight loss) no more than 1600 kcal.

He could eat fruit and vegetables and sugar-free hot drinks as he pleased. He now did sports five times a week (running 45 – 90 minutes per training session) at intervals of at least 2 hours after a meal.

After half a year of 100 g of lupins a day (and all the other measures), his uric acid level had dropped by almost 50 percent.

The study result thus shows at least two things: First, legumes such as lupins do not raise uric acid levels despite their purine content. Secondly, together with a healthy lifestyle, they can even contribute to a reduction in uric acid levels.

(Urine pH values of less than 5.5 promote crystal formation with high uric acid levels.)

* Here you can find pH test strips.

Alcohol inhibits uric acid excretion

Foods can increase uric acid levels not only due to their purine richness. There are also “foods” that are relatively purine-free themselves, but raise uric acid levels by inhibiting uric acid excretion.

This food group includes alcoholic beverages (especially spirits and beer; wine, on the other hand, less so).

Beer also provides a certain amount of purine due to the yeast content.

Fructose (fructose)

An unusual source of uric acid is also the isolated fructose . Fructose in fruit is harmless – unless the diet is made up of fruit to a very large extent or you drink a lot of fruit juices every day. Dried fruit should also not be consumed in masses.

What is really problematic, however, is when fructose is used as a concentrated sweetener, as is the case in soft drinks or even in some sweets. Agave syrup also consists to a large extent of pure fructose. When this fructose is broken down, uric acid is produced, which can cause uric acid levels to rise massively.

Xylitol can hinder purine degradation

Xylitol is a sugar substitute that basically has positive effects on dental health and hardly leads to any health impairments. In the case of an elevated uric acid level, however, xylitol is not recommended, as it can accelerate purine breakdown and thus contribute to an increase in uric acid levels.

Flavor enhancers promote uric acid

Even some flavor enhancers that are added to ready-made products or even restaurant and canteen food can provide purines and thus uric acid. These flavor enhancers include everyone from MSG E626 to E635.

High uric acid levels due to increased cell degradation

As already mentioned under 1, a high uric acid level can also occur if the body suddenly breaks down more of its own cells. Normally, 50 percent of the daily uric acid is produced by this autologous cell degradation. The remaining 50 percent comes from food.

Increased degradation of the patient’s own cells takes place especially in certain diseases (e.g. anemia or leukemia), as part of a diet with severe weight loss or during therapy (e.g. when a tumor is broken down during chemotherapy).

Problems with uric acid metabolism are also often observed in disorders such as autism, epilepsy, etc.

High uric acid levels due to kidney problems

If there is renal insufficiency, the kidneys can no longer remove the uric acid to the usual extent. Even then, high uric acid levels can occur. Here, of course, the regeneration and relief of the kidneys is the first thing to do. At the end of this page, you can also read how to cleanse your kidneys holistically.

High uric acid levels due to medications

If you are already taking medication for a completely different problem and suddenly suffer from high uric acid levels, you should inquire whether your medication does belong to a group of drugs that can increase uric acid levels as a side effect.

These medications include, for example, some drugs for high blood pressure (diuretics).

At the same time, high uric acid levels can lead to high blood pressure in the long term, as uric acid activates a hormone that in turn has a vasoconstrictive effect and raises blood pressure via this mechanism. In the case of high blood pressure, it is therefore always worthwhile to check the uric acid levels as well – and vice versa.

Anyone who regularly takes acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, aspirin) to “thin the blood” must take into account that this can raise uric acid levels, as ASA inhibits uric acid excretion.

If holistic measures are used, for example to reduce uric acid levels, to improve blood flow properties or to lower blood pressure without medication, then – thanks to the holistic nature of the approach – all problems can usually be solved at the same time in the long term.

If there were a high cholesterol level, obesity or diabetes at the same time, there could also be improvements in these areas.

* Here you can find pH test strips. (Urine pH values of less than 5.5 promote crystal formation with high uric acid levels.)

Lowering uric acid naturally – holistic measures

Many of the necessary measures already result from the above-mentioned causes of too high uric acid levels.

Healthy diet lowers uric acid levels

The right diet for high uric acid levels includes the following basic rules:

Alkaline diet

An alkaline-surplus vegetarian diet of lots of vegetables, salads, potatoes and fruits supplemented with organic eggs and whole grains is optimal. Such a diet makes the urine neutral to alkaline, so that the uric acid crystals dissolve in it again, can then be excreted in the urine and the amount of uric acid in the bloodstream is thus reduced.

Deposits in the joints do not occur and consequently there is no gout pain or rheumatic pain. Those affected report that after just 5 weeks of a meat-free diet, uric acid levels had fallen from 9 to 7.

Avoid purine-rich animal foods. Eggs can be integrated because they are very low in purine. Dairy products could also be eaten, as they are also extremely low in purines. But dairy products can have other disadvantages, as we described at the end of this page: Milk causes diseases

Avoid fructose

Avoid fructose (found in many ready meals) and xylitol or any drinks or confectionery sweetened with these two sweeteners.

Cook for yourself

If you want to eat purine-rich animal foods, you can reduce their purine content by boiling them rather than frying them and throwing away the cooking water – in which some of the purines are dissolved.

Prefer raw vegetables

If you eat food raw, the purines it contains do not have such a negative effect. However, we are not used to consuming animal purine sources raw, so this tip is difficult to implement with animal purine sources. However, if you want to be careful with plant-based purine sources, then you could preferably eat the purine-rich vegetables raw (e.g. spinach salad or broccoli salad).

Sour cherries lower uric acid

In cherry season, you could eat a bowl (250 – 300 grams) of fresh sour cherries a day or drink 100 percent sour cherry juice. Those affected report that with the help of cherries, uric acid levels fell from 8 to 4 mg/dl within a month.

Strawberries and blueberries are also helpful in this regard. A 2011 study by Arizona State University confirmed the uric acid-lowering effect of tart cherry juice, traditionally used for gout (4). In addition, inflammation levels were also reduced in this study thanks to the juice.

In another study (from 2012), eating cherries for two days reduced the risk of a gout attack by 35% (5).

Avoid fat

Since fat inhibits uric acid excretion, please be careful not to consume too much fat and to eat a fat-conscious diet. You can achieve this by avoiding purine-rich animal foods as well as convenience products, confectionery and fast food and instead preparing your meals fresh and yourself.

Eat Grapes regularly

Grapes raise the pH value of blood and urine, making it more alkaline, so that acidic metabolic waste products such as uric acid crystals can now be dissolved and excreted more easily. Grapes are also said to have a pain-relieving effect in acute gout attacks.

Of course, many other foods – such as green leafy vegetables or grass juices – can also make urine more alkaline, which is why you should eat or drink plenty of them.

Making urine more alkaline through deacidification

However, too many grapes are not ideal due to the high sugar content. You should not eat more than 300 g of it. But there are many other ways to increase the urine pH value. Even existing uric acid stones can be dissolved and excreted in this way (6).

The alkaline-excess diet alone makes the urine more alkaline. However, to accelerate this development, you can use alkaline preparations such as Basica or baking soda. Alkaline active water can be drunk twice a day.

It would be ideal if you regularly checked how your pH value changes with pH test strips, so that you can then dose the alkaline preparations individually according to your needs. You can read how to measure the pH value in the urine at the end of this page: pH value measurement of urine.

Drinking properly lowers uric acid levels

1. Drink 2 to 3 litres of still spring water or filtered tap water daily. This measure alone keeps gout attacks at a distance, as uric acid remains in solution very nicely in this way and can always be excreted quickly. According to a study by the Boston University School of Medicine, people with high uric acid levels who drink 2+ liters of water a day can reduce their risk of gout attacks by almost 50 percent compared to those who drink only 250 ml of water a day.
2. Keep adding freshly squeezed lemon juice to your water. Lemon juice or the citrates in it are one of the best ways to lower high uric acid levels. Therefore, drink freshly squeezed lemon juice diluted in warm water several times a day.
3. However, with the exception of lemon juice and the above-mentioned cherry juice (1 glass daily), do not drink any other fruit juices, otherwise the daily amount of fructose would be too high and fructose is known to raise uric acid levels.
4. It is best to avoid alcohol completely. Only a glass of wine from time to time would be ok – but not if you have very high uric acid levels.

Dietary supplement lowers uric acid levels

OPC

OPC is a secondary plant substance that is found in grape seeds in particular and is taken in the form of grape seed extract preparations. A Chinese study from 2004 and another study from 2010 showed that OPC was able to normalize uric acid levels within three days (at least in gout-sick mice and chickens).

It was interesting to note that those mice whose uric acid levels were lowered with the usual gout drug (allopurinol) showed side effects (7), while the OPC mice did very well.

Vitamin C and folic acid

These two vital substances prevent the deposition of uric acid crystals in the joints. Vitamin C is also known to lower uric acid levels. At least 500 mg of vitamin C per day is recommended, which is supposed to regulate uric acid levels in 1 to 2 months.

However, 1 gram of vitamin C and 5 mg folic acid 3 times a day would be ideal to prevent crystal deposition (the latter especially in acute cases). However, it is best to discuss high-dose vital substance doses with your therapist.

Reduce excess weight

Since obesity is an enormous risk factor for elevated uric acid levels, you should – if you are overweight – slowly but surely lose excess kilos. Slow means really slow.

If, on the other hand, you were to approach the matter with a zero diet, this could trigger a gout attack, as too many of your own cells are dissolved during rapid weight loss and of course a lot of purines are released, which are now all converted into uric acid.

Therefore, lose weight slowly – preferably with the diet mentioned above or a detoxification cure, in the course of which you can also get to know the alkaline-surplus diet.

Devil’s claw against pain

If you are already struggling with pain from gout attacks, then devil’s claw could temporarily help you as a naturopathic rheumatism remedy. Preparations made from this African plant have an analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect. Preparations made from a standardized extract are recommended, of which 750 mg is taken three times a day, for example.