Does Pork Belong in a Gout Diet?
In this post will go into greater detail on the subject of eating pork and if it should be part of a gout diet. The truth is no matter how you think about it, pigs are a dirty animal. This has nothing to do with anybody’s spiritual beliefs by the way. The fact is that pig is a scavenger. What does that mean? It means that they are considered the scavengers of the farm, so in essence they help eliminate all the waste on the farm, eating anything they can find, even their own feces or the dead carcasses of sick animals. Yet it is one of the most consumed meats in the world and is loaded with toxins, more so compared to beef and chicken.
If we dig in a little deeper, you’ll learn that the pig’s digestive system works rather quickly, digesting whatever it has eaten in about four hours. A cow on the other hand takes up to twenty-four hours to digest. What happens during the digestive process in animals as well as humans; is that it rids the body of any dangerous toxins and since a pig’s digestive system works rather quickly, it can’t rid itself of these toxins and so they remain in their system. The toxins are then stored in the fatty tissues of the pig and ready for your consumption. Yummy!
Did you also know that the pig doesn’t have any sweat glands unlike other animals? That’s why they roll in mud or water in order to cool off. Sweat glands allow the removal of toxins by sweating them out, so this leaves more toxins inside the pig’s body. It’s only common sense to realize by you consuming pork meat that you are also consuming these toxins as well. It’s not a coincidence that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention declares that more than 100 viruses come from pigs each year, the most deadliest one being H1N1 or “swine flu” as they call it.
Furthermore, pork meat carries various parasites which are hard to kill while cooking pork meat that is the reason there are so many warnings out there about cooking pork meat properly. You don’t want to end up with an infection like trichinellosis or trichinosis which contains the larvae of the trichinella worm. This worm is commonly found in pork. Common symptoms of trichinellosis include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, chills, heart problems, breathing issues and aching joints. What’s worse is that these symptoms can last for weeks and sometimes months!
If you eat ham, sausage, bacon, salami, mortadella or other cold cuts then you should also know that they are loaded with saturated fats and cholesterol which will end up increasing your waistline. Pork is also high in purines since it is a protein food and remember we gout sufferers should limit our daily meat intake anyway to about 10% of daily calories.
Pork and Contamination
There’s even more evidence! According to a 2009 Consumer Reports investigation, tested about 200 samples of pork and found that 69% were contaminated with a dangerous bacteria called Yersinia enterocolitica which can cause fever, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal illnesses. About 20% of the samples were contaminated with the drug ractopamine which is actually banned in many countries and is used to increase the growth of the pig while leaving the meat lean. About 11% of the samples were contaminated with enterococcus which can indicate fecal contamination and can cause you serious health issues particularly urinary-tract infections. And people think that pig is a clean animal! Sure it is…
You should also know that pork meat contains more fat compared to other meats and you’ll notice people who are fond of pork are usually more obese than others. Many of you will say “but it tastes so good”. I’m sure if you ever tried dog meat, cat meat or pigeon meat and if cooked properly, you would say the same thing. Meat is meat. There are good meats from clean animals that eat grass or hay and unclean animals (scavengers) that eat the garbage of the earth.
There also seems to be a link between pork and cirrhosis of the liver and some say can even be worse than alcohol according to some studies. Other studies show an association between pork consumption and liver cancer as well as multiple sclerosis. We all know how important a healthy liver is for a gout sufferer to be able to metabolize uric acid properly.
At the end of the day I ask you to consciously avoid pork whenever possible. Personally, I eat pork many two times a year, I like to remind myself of the taste of bacon or somebody will offer me a sausage at a friend’s BBQ. That’s it! Other than that, I strictly avoid this deadly food and so should you. It doesn’t belong in a gout diet and may have also been the cause of you getting gout in the first place.
47 replies to "Gout and Pork"
A priori, les quantités de purines sont très variables suivant les morceaux. Les côtes de porc, par exemple, avec un faible taux de purines, peuvent être consommées sans problèmes en cas de goutte. Le blanc de poulet en contient 2 fois plus ! Et je ne parle même pas des poissons (sauf exceptions comme la lotte).
I can tell you no biologist and don’t know what the hell you’re talkin about. Thank you for nothing..
Unlike many of your articles this one has no substantial references. It is simply an opinion based argument without any facts supporting the arguments. This is not very informative and it feels like you just don’t like pigs.
[…] Pork in a Gout Diet […]
This is very informative. Your health will always be your top priority. Always eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle.
I believe keto diet endorses pork. Bacon and ham is a staple. Now I am confused.
Hi Stella!
Read my post on Gout and Keto diet –>https://goutandyou.com/gout-and-ketogenic-diet/
In my country Philippines, we can cook pork in so many different ways and it is very delicious that one cannot avoid but to eat rice. However, recently, me and my husband started to live a healthier lifestyle including proper diet and exercise so we also try to avoid eating pork especially fried ones as it is also high in cholesterol.
I tried to avoid eating pork as much as possible, especially now that I’m pregnant. Even though I’ve read articles that state pork is safe to eat during pregnancy provided that it is not undercooked, I still try to avoid it for fear that it might still be undercooked and have a high risk of being contaminated with some dangerous bacteria like listeria. This is a great read, by the way!
It’s a pity pork used to be my favorite. Now I look at it very differently. Thanks for posting this great article!
I have gout now 20 years but your column was a good read.
Joe
Gout diet is really an interesting diet!
I never knew pork could be a source of gout. Or that it should be removed from your diet. Pork tastes good, but if it is that bad, then it has no place in any diet.
It doesn’t matter of what diet plan you’re into, pork should not be included in your diet. Maybe, some recipe would allow you to have pork but not that much and some specific part. It’s always important to follow your diet plan and go natural.
Spiro knows about gout. Listen to him. However I hate to mention this but if nothing else works, I know what will take away gout in 1 or 2 days. You need to check first on side effects. 10 to 20 Mg of Prednisone will work on me every time and If I follow Spiros advice, it won’t come back until I do something stupid. I am a fish eating veggie.
If what u say is true and not part of some misinformed or even evil-intended alarmism then where are all the people who die from their morning bacon?
Are you aware of statistics that count the people who including pork in their diet and not getting sick from yersiniosis? did you count them before you declared that pork and pork alone is the single most prominent source of sickness? Are you aware that the digestive system of pigs and humans are very similar to that of humans and most animals INCLUDING pigs have countless intricate mechanics to deal with and eject toxins. Btw to deal with your ‘scavenger’-hyphothesis:
Like many animals who eat meat the pig is an facultative scavenger who get their food mostly from other sources.
P.S.: if you state again that pigs on well-tended farms eat only shit, garbage and carrion im gonna travel through the whole world just to punch you in the face. I worked for some time on a farm with pigs and that is why i know that everything you were telling was either exagerated or plain lies or taken directly from the dark middle ages where people couldnt afford to deal with waste. What are we doing now with waste, garbage and feces? We grow our plants on it, lol
Lol I know this is controversial since we are accustomed to eating pork for centuries now but facts are facts.
Read some more facts from Dr.Axe–>https://draxe.com/why-you-should-avoid-pork/
Are mutton and beef safe for us?
In small portions (4 to 6 ounces) yes!That is if you eat it once in a day, that is all the meat protein intake you need. Not more then that.
This seems to be a general rant against pork rather than having anything specific about it in a gout diet. Eating any kind of factory-farmed food is bad, not just pork.
Just found out I have gout. I’m new at this, so any help for an old woman would be greatly appreciated. 2012 had back surgery. 2017 had knee surgery. 2016 had shingles. Could you help me?
Sandy
Hi Sandy!
If you have gout you are the right place to learn all about changing your diet and lifestyle. Make sure to read all my posts and follow the dietary advice I recommend in order to avoid any other future gout attacks.
Good luck!
Kali Mera Spiro,
When I came to Thailand 9 years ago, I started with gout, now much more often although I think that I care with the food. This morning I read very carefully all your remarks, and now I don’t know anymore what I can eat. Fact: No poultry this has been the heavy start of my gout attacks. Now I learn – No shrimps and similar seafood.
Tomatoes are belonging to almost my daily food (2 pieces)and I also care with some vegetable (spinnach, cucumbers..)
I heard from a Chinese, who has the same symptoms, that every day one or more liters of 15 minutes boiled green Papaya would reduce uric acid and lower pain. So far I cannot confirm this recipe.
Looking forward to your comments
Klaus
Hi Klaus!
Poultry is protein and if you’ve read my book and read all the posts in this website, you know that you can some meat but only limited to 10% of your daily calories which is about 4 to 6 ounces a day. Seafood and shrimps have been proven to raise uric acid levels, it is not what we call a healthy fish to eat since it is a bottom feeder which basically eats all the garbage produced by the oceans. Seafood has only gained popularity in the past 150 years, before that it was considered the cockroach of the ocean. Nobody consumed it! Regardless the studies show that seafood raises uric acid levels.
Tomatoes on the other hand is considered a top 5 gout trigger amongst gout sufferers. If it doesn’t affect you then continue consuming it but if it does like it did to me, stop it or eat it very rarely.
As for the papaya recipe, I know it’s a popular gout fighting recipe in Asia but again there is no scientific studies done on this yet.
Hope this helps!
I don’t get it – on the page Tomatoes and gout you state “There is a misconception amongst certain gout sufferers that tomatoes actually cause gout attacks. This is simply not true … tomatoes are a low purine food … So where do people get the idea that tomatoes are bad for us?
Then on this page you state “Tomatoes on the other hand is considered a top 5 gout trigger amongst gout sufferers. If it doesn’t affect you then continue consuming it but if it does like it did to me, stop it or eat it very rarely.
Maybe you can explain what I am missing
Hi Bernard!
Tomatoes are considered a top 5 Gout Attack trigger amongst gout sufferers. It has gotten me in trouble in the past as well. One summer I was eating nothing but Greek salads since I was receiving fresh tomatoes from my mom’s garden and it caused me lots of inflammation. Don’t take my word for it, there are plenty of studies that cite this.
Hi Spiro!
I’m suffering from gout since 14 years. Had attack almost every year. I’m 44 now. I heard gout patients can eat chicken, duck meat and we don’t get gout attack, is it true? I don’t eat meat often but it’s getting worse. I had septic arthritis of gout on knee, got operated. Is there a solution to reverse this gout? Can I have meat at moderate level if so which meats is best?
HI Vinni!
Make sure that meat is 10% of your daily calories max. That means eating about 4-5 ounces of meat a day. Make sure it is lean meat, trim the fat. Best meats are fish, chicken breast, turkey, duck, rabbit and lean red meat occasionally.
I appreciate your website and I have no reason to doubt your evidence. I simply wanted to point out what appears to be a contradiction between two separate pages. You might want to consider revising the page on Tomatoes and gout where you state that Tomatoes DO NOT cause gout flares. Keep up the good work!
Since you said you don’t eat meat often, there could only be possible scenarios:
Do you drink alcohol or sweetened beverages like coke or even juices? If yes, that’s bad. Really bad.
Do you eat french fries? Or any other carbohydrates like white bread and rice? That turns to sugar and that’s really bad.
Do you smoke? Well, it’s not a factor.
I have been reducing my meat intake but i still experience gouty attacks every now and then. That being said, I pushed further my research and found out rice and white bread and fries too causes uric acid to increase, so strike two. I cut them all but i still experience gouty attacks. That’s when I saw my intake of fruit juices. I completely taken that out and after that, i dont feel any gout attacks now. I eat meat but in moderation. I dont drink juice anymore, i eat wheat bread and no carbs at all.
Hope this helps
By the way, i’m only 24 yrs old
Are the French Fries bad because what they are fried in? Do potatoes themselves cause gout?
So no meat no fish no alcohol oh my! My life is over at age 50! So much for the low carb high protein diet!I read also no sugar, which is not a big deal for me. I don’t want to go on medicine for gout but have had bouts in big toe first, then elbow, now ankle. Super painful and I can’t take ibuprofen. Vegetarian-I have a husband and THREE teenage man-children! Meat is staple for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack!
Never said you can’t eat meat or fish! Ad for alcohol and sugar try and avoid them as best as you can. As for meat, make sure it is lean, preferably grass-fed and eat only 10% of your daily calories as meat. But don’t go being a glutton and eating meat breakfast, lunch and supper cause not only it will worsen your gout but worsen other parts of your health as well.
[…] is better but remember protein is protein and as gout sufferers you want to limit that. Avoid pork completely if I were you. Avoid mincemeat completely too! Always trim the fat from your […]
[…] Eating Pork and Having Gout […]
I have uric acid around 8 not too high yet I have developed in the left knee not the usual big toe. I am unable to walk anymore regularly as i used to. The pain is getting unbearable despite pain killers. i use goutnil febuxostat.
help me
Abdul, best to drink nothing but water and at least 12 to 15 glasses daily until the pain subsides. In addition, avoid all meat including fish and try to eat vegatarian meals that are light on your stomach and light on your liver and kidneys. Take apple cider vinegar daily, try and eat cherries only as your fruit and/or some pineapple. There are more little steps you can take if you check out my website more thoroughly. Again if you haven’t visited your doctor, please do so.
Good luck!
You should try Apple Cider Vinegar, it helps a lot. Try drinking two tbs per day. I drink it almost 8 tbps per day, 4 in the morning, and 2-2 in the afternoon and evening. It helps neutralizes uric acid. Yes ACV is acidic, but when digested, it turns to alkaline.
For me Ham triggers more flares than any other food. Unfortunately It took and an attack that affected both ankles, all toes and both knees and lasted nearly three weeks.
I can’t stress enough is learn which affect you and if you feel a flare coming on to act very quickly. Strawberries, black cherry juice, apple cider vinegar and gallons of water.
[…] Can you eat pork with gout? […]
My doctor has rejected my gout and is now saying it might be psuedogout. Diet doesn’t seem to have an effect on this.
Hi Fritzi!
Do you want your pseudogout to get worse?
If not follow my dietary advice and help yourself. Follow any medication your doctor has offered you. But please eat better. It can only help you.
Remember doctors are trained/educated in providing medication to treat any health issues, they usually put down diet, herbs and natural remedies. They wouldn’t be in business otherwise although government is in the business of healthcare pretty much everywhere nowadays.
Thank you Spiro for this very informative post. I will NEVER eat pork again… I have never been healthier since I started following the rules for the gout diet. Thank you for all the work you do to inform and share from your vast stores of knowledge… much appreciated.
Thanks Panayiota!
SPIROS, THANKS FOR THE INFO BUT I GOTTA QUESTION VALIDITY OF THE DIRTY ANIMAL IMPLICATION. IF WE WERE CONSUMING WILD-FERAL HOGS I WOULD BE INCLINED TO AGREE. HOWEVER, I BELIEVE, FARM RAISED PORK IS GENUINELY GOOD FOR ME. I’M ALWAYS OPEN TO WISDOM FROM THOSE WITH BROADER KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE. WHAT’S YER THOUGHTS/ THANKS PEEWEE HENSON RENO, NV
All you have to do is observe the pig and you’ll see what I mean. Just like the lobster is a scavenger that eats all the crap from the ocean, the pig’s role in nature is to clean up and eat all that nasty stuff. Now if you want to eat that animal, of course the choice is yours but your health will deteriorate. Of course if you decide to eat pork, farm raised is much better than industrial raised where they provide them with antibiotics and raise them inhumanely.