Gout and Non-alcoholic beer?

[Len Salem]

This is a popular topic asking can non-alcoholic beer cause gout? But before you read Len’s topic and replies, you should look at some relevant facts. Because you will understand the discussion better if you check the science first.

So please read these pages now:

Purine free beer

See the Beer Purine Table, a chart of the uric acid content of many drinks with some explanations of how different purines affect gout.

Is non-alcoholic beer bad for gout?

Before you consider non-alcoholic beer, read Best Alcohol For Gout.

Len’s original question follows…

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Is non-alcoholic beer a safe drink for gout sufferers?
Is it the alcohol in real beer that’s the problem or the “beer” part of the contents?
Would love guidance on this.
Thanks
Len

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How much non-alcoholic beer does it take to affect gout?

[Len Salem]

I’ve been asked to provide a bit more information to help with answers to my question about whether gout sufferers are safe with non-alcoholic beer.

I had my first gout attacks in my toe area about 3 years ago. I was 74 years old then. After these started recurring my doctor put me on allopurinol tablets, having tested what was the right strength for me. This stopped the gout but after a year I developed terrible skin blisters. On the advice of a qualified medical skin consultant I stopped the allopurinol but it took about a year for the blisters to completely disappear as my skin had become very sensitive.

I had one gout attack in the last year and now take no anti-gout medication.

The best advice for me for avoiding gout attacks seemed to be to loose weight so I started a different style of eating (lots of vegetables, fewer carbohydrates) about 5 months ago and went from 17 stone to a little under 15.5 stone and am continuing to loose at a steady rate of about 1lb a week. I’m about 5’10”.
Prior to gout, I used to drink 3 or 4 glasses of wine a week, and sometimes a couple of bottles of beer, instead but have now stopped that.

I recently started the occasional glass of non-alcoholic beer. No ill effects so far but I am nervous. I can’t stand sweet drinks like colas etc and would look forward to 2 or 3 bottles of non-alcoholic beer a week, especially in hot weather! I wouldn’t mind a glass of wine now and again either, but these would be the alcoholic sort as I find non-alcoholic wines unpalatable.

Am I significantly increasing the risk of another gout attack or is this non-alcoholic beer intake likely to be safe? And what about the odd glass of wine?

Thanks for any advice.

Len

[Keith Taylor]

Non-alcoholic beer has been discussed in the old forum. It’s an interesting discussion, but it wandered well away from the original post about Near Beer and gout. Please feel free to repeat any of those interesting points to discuss them again here. Or, start new topics about them.

As for research into gout and non-alcoholic beer, I believe there has only ever been one study. So, Eastmond’s “The effects of alcoholic beverages on urate metabolism in gout sufferers.” is widely referred to. Including, references to the drinks being tested were vodka with orange juice, regular beer, non-alcoholic beer, and orange juice But, I’ve only ever read the abstract:

The purine contents of commercial, low-alcohol and alcohol-free beers were determined. Four gout sufferers were studied under controlled conditions before and after ingestion of four different beverages containing alcohol, alcohol and purine, purine and neither alcohol nor purine.

The results show a significant increase in purine excretion with a fluid load alone and impairment or reversal of this response with the other three beverages.

These results are difficult to interpret on the basis of the alcohol and purine contents of the beverages alone. Isohumulones are present in all beers. Their effect on urate metabolism and excretion is unknown but needs further study as a possible explanation of these results.

These results suggest that the three beverages other than a fluid load alone are unsuitable for gout sufferers.

Unfortunately, that tells me nothing, as I can’t find the data to which it relates. So, in my mind at least, it’s probably another complete waste of time that misses the point. My point being: why do you drink so much beer, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, that it affects your gout? Alcohol, like meat, has little effect on gout, when consumed at healthy levels.

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How much non-alcoholic beer does it take to affect gout?

Here are the important links to relevant facts from the introduction to this topic:

Purine free beer

See the Beer Purine Table, a chart of the uric acid content of many drinks with some explanations of how different purines affect gout.

Is non-alcoholic beer bad for gout?

Before you consider non-alcoholic beer, read Best Alcohol For Gout.

[Andy Park]

Non-alcolic beer & Gout

YES or NO only: Is non-alcoholic beer safe for gout?

[Keith Taylor]

As this question was sent to my helpdesk, I would normally answer it in Gout Q&A. But it’s a poor question to start that new service for addressing gout concerns. So I replied personally with a correspondingly curt and useless “yes or no” before adding it to this thread.

In fact, “yes or no” is the correct answer. Because if you drink non-alcoholic beer in normal quantities as part of a healthy diet then it is safe for gout. But if you only consume non-alcoholic beer (or any other single food item) each day, all day. Then it is not safe for gout.

The irony of this question is that it was sent from my page: Best Alcohol For Gout – What’s Yours? Where I specifically state:

You cannot assess if a single food item or beverage is good or bad for gout. You must assess total diet with regard to 5 bad gout food groups

Having said all that – this is a public discussion service. Where my opinion is just one among many. So what’s your opinion on “Is non-alcoholic beer safe for gout”?

More importantly, have you ever discussed this with your doctor? If so, what did they say?

[Author]

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