High uric acid: what the food data shows
Uric acid is what the body produces when it breaks down purines — nitrogen-containing compounds found in the cells of plants, animals and people. Purines are in food, and food is one input among several; the body also makes and clears uric acid continuously.
This page lists purine content that has actually been measured in foods, in milligrams per 100 g, taken from the USDA/ODS-NIH purine database. It is a data page. It does not measure your uric acid and it does not tell you what to eat. See the full disclaimer.
- foods with a sourced page
- 173
- above 200 mg per 100 g
- 38
- reported below detection limit
- 0
The 20 highest measured values
Ranked by total purine content per 100 g. Every row links to the food’s own page, which carries the four purine fractions and the source record.
| Food | Purine per 100 g | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Yeast, driedSoups, sauces, and seasonings | 847 mg | High purine |
| Pork, cured, bacon, cookedPork (other than organs) | 429 mg | High purine |
| Anchovy, rawFinfish and shellfish | 411 mg | High purine |
| Sardine, cannedFinfish and shellfish | 399 mg | High purine |
| Herring, cannedFinfish and shellfish | 378 mg | High purine |
| Chicken breast, boneless, skinless, cookedPoultry (other than organs) | 369 mg | High purine |
| Pork loin, boneless, skinless, cookedPork (other than organs) | 334 mg | High purine |
| Anchovy, cannedFinfish and shellfish | 321 mg | High purine |
| Mushrooms, shiitake, driedVegetables | 312 mg | High purine |
| Anchovy, freshFinfish and shellfish | 304 mg | High purine |
| Tofu, dried-frozen (koyadofu)Legumes and legume products | 292 mg | High purine |
| Chicken breast, boneless, skinless, rawPoultry (other than organs) | 289 mg | High purine |
| Pork, liver, rawPork organ products | 289 mg | High purine |
| Salmon, sockeye, wild, rawFinfish and shellfish | 260 mg | High purine |
| Beef, ground, 93% lean meat / 7% fat, cookedBeef (other than organs) | 252 mg | High purine |
| Luncheon meat, ham, ready-to-eatSausages and luncheon meats | 250 mg | High purine |
| Salmon, mixed species, rawFinfish and shellfish | 250 mg | High purine |
| Salmon, Atlantic, farmed, rawFinfish and shellfish | 250 mg | High purine |
| Salami, genoa, pork, beefSausages and luncheon meats | 246 mg | High purine |
| Mackerel, cannedFinfish and shellfish | 246 mg | High purine |
Bars are scaled to this list (0–900 mg), so lengths compare within the page. The full high band is in high purine foods.
What the total is made of
The source measures four purines separately, and the total is their sum. Showing the split rather than a single number is the reason this database was chosen over a one-column chart.
Example: Yeast, dried
| Adenine | 409 mg |
|---|---|
| Guanine | 423 mg |
| Hypoxanthine | 15.1 mg |
| Xanthine | 0 mg |
| Total | 847 mg |
What these numbers cannot tell you
- Your blood level. That is a laboratory measurement. What a given value means for you is a clinical question, not something a food table can answer.
- How much of your uric acid comes from food. The body produces uric acid continuously. Diet sits alongside other inputs, including alcohol, fructose, kidney function, body weight, medicines and genetics.
- How much you absorb. The database records what is in the food, not what reaches your blood after digestion.
- Cooking and portion size. Values apply per 100 g of the food as described in the source record. Water lost or gained in cooking changes the weight the number applies to.
Where the numbers come from
- Purine totals and fractions: USDA and ODS-NIH Database for the Purine Content of Foods, Release 2.0 (March 2025). Each food page shows the citation and the source record.
- Nutrient values (calories, fructose): USDA FoodData Central, matched by FDC ID and shown on each page.
- Missing values are shown as “No data available”; entries the source reports as ND are shown as “below detection limit” and never as 0 (0 of 173 pages).
Laboratory values differ between studies and samples. Nothing here is estimated or filled in.
Questions
- What counts as a high purine food on this site?
- A measured total above 200 mg per 100 g. That is a label this site puts on a number so the list can be sorted — it is not a statement about what any person should eat.
- Does the total include all four purines?
- Where the source reports all four, yes: the total is the sum of adenine, guanine, hypoxanthine and xanthine. A handful of entries are missing one fraction, and those are shown as missing rather than estimated.
- Why does a food say “below detection limit” instead of 0?
- The source database reports ND (not detected) for some samples. Not detected is not the same as zero, so the page says what the source says instead of printing a number it does not have.
- Are these values for raw or cooked food?
- They apply to the food as described in the source record, per 100 g. Cooking adds or removes water, which changes the weight the number applies to, so a cooked portion is not directly comparable to a raw one.
- Do these numbers tell me my uric acid level?
- No. They describe the purine content of foods. A blood uric acid value is a laboratory result, and what it means for you is a clinical question rather than a data question.
- How many foods are covered?
- 451 foods and drinks are searchable, and 173 of them have a full page with the sourced figures and the source link.
One sourced plate a week
A weekly email with one plate built from the same database — purine total included. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.