Mushrooms in a Gout Diet
Love meat but need to cut down on it cause you suffer from gout? Here’s an idea! Replace meat with mushrooms! Yes mushrooms! Mushrooms are low in calories and help control your appetite. Mushrooms are a great food to help control your weight which is an important benefit to the gout sufferer. To date there is no evidence that fruits, vegetables or mushrooms cause gout or make your gout worse. Anybody that tells you otherwise, you should watch out for. They don’t have your best interests at heart or simply are dazed and confused.
Did you know that of the 140,000 species of mushrooms, science is only familiar with only 10%? Although mushrooms are meaty, chewy and juicy they can’t really replace meat cause a 3 ounce serving has just 3 grams of protein compared to 20 grams of protein that can be had with a 3 ounce serving of chicken or beef. Portobello mushrooms are known as the vegetarian’s steak after all but it won’t fill you for too long.
Mushrooms carry beta-glucans which is a type of carbohydrate found in mushrooms and is a strong anti-inflammatory that may help protect you from gout. They are a great source of vitamins B, selenium, copper, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, manganese, riboflavin, niacin, ergothioneine which is a powerful antioxidant and many other vitamins and minerals.
There aren’t any studies conducted with mushrooms for gout sufferers but there is one that was done with people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis with Reishi mushrooms also known as Ganoderma lucidum “the Mushroom of Immortality”. In the 2007 study published by the University of Hong Kong, the polysaccharide peptides in Reishi were found to “significantly inhibit the proliferation of Rheumatoid Arthritis Synovial Fibroblasts (RASF).
“Reishi mushrooms helps regulate cells that influence the immune system, helping calm down overactive cells that affect autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. Remember gout is also an autoimmune disorder. You can consume Reishi mushrooms in the form of capsules and/or tea.
Another mushroom that shows much promise is Cordyceps that has long been used in Chinese medicine and helps protect your liver and kidneys, helps increase blood flow normalizes cholesterol levels which all good stuff for us gout sufferers and rheumatoid arthritis sufferers having extremely potent anti-inflammatory characteristics.
One thing scientists are beginning to recognize is that mushrooms carry what they consider a “master antioxidant” which is called ergothioneine and is exclusive to mushrooms protecting our DNA from oxidative damage.
At the end of the day, mushrooms should be included in your gout diet and enjoy a mushroom burger from time to time. Skip the meat!
24 replies to "Gout and Mushrooms"
I am quite confused, the list of foods I can eat is getting smaller. I have arthritis, so avoid acidic foods.
This seems to work, but now I have gout as well, and a lot of the foods recommended to help get rid of gout are acidic.
Does anyone else have this problem? I could use a list of foods that are good for someone who has too much stomach acid, arthritis and gout.
Hi Anni!
Try eating 80% of your daily calories as complex carbohydrates such as fresh vegetables, legumes, some fruit, 100% whole grain breads, pastas and rice. Eat mostly beans for protein.
10% of your daily calories can be protein such as chicken breast, turkey, fish, lean red beef and lamb. Avoid pork, processed meats like sausages and hot dogs, avoid all seafood as well like lobster, shrimp and crab for example.
Finally, eat 10% of your daily calories as fat like milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, eggs and so on.
Drink only water, herbal teas and coffee.
Avoid processed foods like snack bars, cookies, cereals etc…
Do not fry your food. Only boil it or bake it in the oven. BBQ meat is fine too.
Cook only with 100% extra virgin olive oil. Do not use corn oil, vegetable oil, canola or other types of oil that are toxic to your health.
Good luck!
I have eaten a lot of mushrooms in moo goo gai pan meals and had no problem with gout flare ups. But sugary pastries and muffins have caused so much pain from gout. Vitamin C and edible oils like virgin olive oil, walnut, sesame, avocado and such work wonders. I quit fried foods and now reversed my health back 20 years ago and feel great. Even spinach was said to be bad and it’s not. Watch the other refined oils and processed foods especially cold cuts, bacon, sausage, stuff like that.
Whenever I eat Portobello mushrooms, I get a gout flare. Usually, I do not have meat along with them. It has happened the last half dozen times I’ve had Portobello mushrooms, and they are the only type of mushroom that seems to cause the issue. Granted, when one eats these in a dish they tend to be a meat substitute so the quantity is greater than in mushroom dishes where the mushrooms are not the main attraction. That’s my personal experience.
Thank you Spiro for your very informative information, I really love mushrooms and I didn’t want to have to stop eating them.
Is shitake(lentinus edodes) safe? Many persons said gouter should avoid it due having too much purine.
I eat them and never had any issues. Again in moderation of course. Usually mushrooms are accompanied with meat related dishes and recipes and that is why they get a bad rap. Eat them in a vegetarian diet and they will not bother you.
Shitake are ok its the straw white caps that you have to watch out for.
Thanks for that I’m going to try radishes and mushrooms in my diet. Other so called experts say you should avoid them. The best thing thats helped me is vitamin C and especially theracurmin.
[…] Are Portobello or Shiitake Mushrooms Good for Gout? […]
I’m Charlie K.
I start getting gout flare since May of 2022. I change diet. What kind food that causes gout flare? Some say, can’t have that with gout and some say you can. Im so confuse. I been drinking black been juice and sweet potato leaves juice, same to stop to the gout flare.
Can anybody suggest medicine like pain killer etc., as I am suffering from knee joint pain, which is unbearable.
You can try our topical pain relief cream, if not pain killers you can take are ibuprofen, NSAIDs or colchicine but that needs to be prescribed by your doctor.
Good luck!
I don’t know which mushrooms are used for mushroom powder, but from experience, even a pinch of mushroom powder results in pain for me. 🙁
Hi!
I have used mushrooms several nights ago as a dinner which I faced a bad and horrible gout attack, that was my experience about using mushrooms.
Thanks for the great info. I too am afflicted by gout and have a genetic predisposition. My first acute attack was brought on by over indulging in shiitake mushrooms. I was eating a pan full of shiitake a day, every day for a few weeks before my gout flared up and drove me to the doctor. I know my story doesn’t represent a balanced diet or moderate mushroom intake, but I did want to share my experience.
The question I would like to ask is there a direct relationship between the quantity of purine rich foods and the formation of uric acid? What I’m trying to get at, is it foolish for me to eliminate the pinch of reishi mushroom i consume as tea? It probably weighs less than a gram and, as you point out above, has remarkable healing properties. Additionally, I’m sure that my reishi tea helps me hydrate. I’m currently experiencing a mild recurrence of gout so I’ve stopped consuming beer, figs, & reishi.
Hi Bill!
In general the more purines you consume the more the likelihood of worsening your gout but purines from vegetables are not considered the same as purines from meat. And a pinch of reishi mushroom that you consume as a tea will not directly cause any flares or gout attacks.
Oh this is good news! I was hoping to be able to replace some meat with mushrooms but was afraid to since I hear mushrooms were on the “do not eat” list! Thank you so much!!
I am so confused.Some people say do not eat mushrooms other say it’s okay.
Please help me.
Eat them! Do not worry, purines in vegetables are not high enought to make a dent towards your uric acid levels.
Very interesting Spiro although one your earlier posts, “Gout and Purines” includes mushrooms in a middle group of foods that contain relatively high levels of purines. It is good to know that I don’t have to avoid mushrooms. I often use them to cook with together with meats, so was wondering whether I should stop using them.
The purine content found in mushrooms won’t do anything to move the needle on raising uric acid levels, it’s still relatively low, remember every food has purines but it’s the animal proteins or meat that are the real culprits as well as foods that are high in sugar, high fructorse corn syrup and preservatives.
Hey Spiro, internet can be dangerous, look what I just found, unbelievable:
Shrimp, lobster, eel, and crab are safer seafood choices for patients with gout. Asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, and mushrooms are high in purines, so patients with gout should not consume large amounts of these foods.Nov 17, 2015
4 Foods and Drinks Gout Patients Should Avoid – Pharmacy Times
https://www.pharmacytimes.com › 4-foo…
Yeah there are many websites that just spit out content for other purposes then educating and helping people. It’s more for ad revenue, SEO link building and other marketing reasons to earn money on unresearched content.The goal is to spit it out fast.So you have to be careful what you read and back it up!