Does Red Meat Cause Gout? Time to Stop Blaming the Steak?
Ever watched a mate limp into work, swearing off steak after a gout flare—only to wash down his sausage roll with a fizzy drink and call it progress?
I have. And every time I hear someone blame red meat for their gout while still necking beer and eating processed junk, I can’t help but scratch my head.
We’re told red meat causes gout because it’s high in purines. But here’s the thing—our ancestors lived on meat, especially red meat, without the convenience of crisps, cola, or corn syrup.
So why weren’t they riddled with gout?
Does red meat cause gout… really? Or are we pointing the finger in the wrong direction?
Let’s examine what causes gout and see if logic—and a bit of history—can provide a better answer.
TL;DR
✅ Red meat isn’t the cause of gout—chronic inflammation from sugar, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods is.
✅ Gout isn’t about purines—metabolic dysfunction driven by modern lifestyle habits.
✅ The real fix? Ditch the junk, cut inflammation, and eat like a human—animal foods, real fats, quality sleep, and less stress.
✅ Want to prevent gout? Focus on reducing inflammation, not meat. Try keto, carnivore, or an animal-based diet to reset your system naturally.
What is Gout Exactly?
Gout is a type of arthritis, but not the slow, grinding-down kind. It hits hard, fast, and often in the middle of the night, usually in a joint like your big toe or ankle.
The pain? Like stepping on broken glass with a flamethrower aimed at your foot.
Mainstream advice blames high uric acid levels, saying they lead to uric acid crystals forming in your joints. But here’s where things start to fall apart.
For one, uric acid is not some dangerous toxin. Your body actually makes it on purpose, and even reabsorbs around 50% of it after filtering. Why? Because it’s a powerful antioxidant.
You also make far more purines inside your body than you’ll ever get from a steak. When your cells break down ATP, GTP, DNA, or RNA (you know, everyday stuff), they create five to ten times more purines than you’ll get from eating a bit of liver or beef.
So, being told to lower uric acid levels and blaming purine-rich foods like red meat and organ meats doesn’t make much sense when your own metabolism is making most of it.
The Real Issue…
And here’s the thing—plenty of people walk around with high uric acid levels and never get gout.
Others have uric acid crystals in their joints but no pain, which tells us the problem isn’t just uric acid.
The real issue is inflammation.
Gout is an inflammatory response to deeper issues: metabolic dysfunction, high insulin, poor diet, and modern junk food. It’s not just about what’s in your blood—it’s about what’s happening in your body.
So let’s stop blaming meat and look at what’s really changed in our diets… and what’s actually triggering gout today.
Mainstream Advice: Red Meat and Gout
If you’ve ever Googled “how to treat gout,” you’ve probably been told to avoid red meat. It’s standard advice from doctors, dietitians, and even the Arthritis Foundation.
The logic sounds neat: red meat contains purines, purines raise uric acid levels, and that supposedly causes gout flare-ups.
But here’s the problem—it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
Let Common Sense Prevail
Yes, red meat, organ meats, and game meats contain purines. But your body creates far more purines just from breaking down cells.
Daily turnover of ATP, DNA, and other internal compounds can generate 5 to 10 times more purines than you’d ever get from a steak dinner.
So, blaming meat while ignoring what your body naturally produces? Doesn’t make a lot of sense.
And let’s not forget—plenty of people with high uric acid levels never develop gout symptoms at all.
Meanwhile, others with lower levels do. That tells us the presence of uric acid isn’t the real issue—chronic inflammation is.
The Real Culprits Are Modern Foods
The real drivers? Things like fructose, high fructose corn syrup, alcoholic beverages, and processed foods. These hammer your liver, drive up insulin, impair uric acid excretion, and set the stage for gout attacks.
That fizzy drink or Friday night booze binge is far more likely to trigger gout than a grilled steak with some butter.
As for low-fat dairy being protective? That’s a theory with no clear backing—and one that conveniently lines up with outdated food pyramid thinking.
The same goes for the idea that high-purine vegetables like spinach or mushrooms are somehow a safer choice because they’re plant-based.
Instead of eliminating real, nutrient-dense animal foods, we should eliminate processed rubbish and get back to eating like humans.
The more we examine the data and the logic, the clearer it becomes: red meat isn’t the enemy; the modern food landscape is.
Is It Really Just About Red Meat?
Let’s be honest—if red meat were the main problem, our ancestors would’ve been wrecked with joint pain long before the modern world got involved. But they weren’t. So what changed?
We’ve swapped nutrient-dense animal foods for processed foods, seed oils, high fructose corn syrup, and fruit juices—things our bodies were never designed to handle.
And now? Gout symptoms are everywhere.
The Missing Piece: Chronic Inflammation from Modern Foods
Here’s what we know: uric acid is a natural antioxidant. Your body produces it on purpose and even reabsorbs about half of it. Plenty of people have high uric acid levels and never develop gout. Others have uric acid crystals in their joints without a hint of pain.
That’s because gout isn’t just about uric acid—it’s about inflammation. And inflammation comes from the modern diet.
Take fructose, especially high fructose corn syrup. It overwhelms your liver, spikes insulin, and ramps up inflammatory responses in the body.
Alcoholic beverages, particularly beer, have the same effect—raising insulin, increasing systemic inflammation, and driving metabolic chaos.
Refined carbs do their part, too. They elevate blood sugar, promote weight gain, and worsen metabolic syndrome—all of which are linked to gout flare-ups, not because they “cause crystals,” but because they fuel the underlying inflammatory fire.
So Who’s Really to Blame?
You’ll see people ditching steak and still knocking back beers, snack bars, and bread, then wondering why their gout symptoms haven’t improved.
The issue isn’t the meat—it’s the chronic inflammation caused by what’s surrounding it.
Eat meat as part of a clean, animal-based diet or low-carb approach, and your body knows exactly what to do. But sandwich it between seed oils, sugar, and grain-heavy junk, and you’re asking for trouble.
Gout isn’t a red meat problem. It’s an inflammation problem, driven by the modern diet, and that’s what we need to fix.
Uric Acid and the Bigger Health Picture
We’ve been taught to fear uric acid like it’s some kind of toxic waste—but the truth is, it’s far more complex than that. Your body produces uric acid on purpose, and it actually acts as a powerful antioxidant in your system.
Your kidneys reabsorb a good chunk of it after filtering. If it were that dangerous, why would your body bother?
So, high uric acid levels may not cause disease—they may be a symptom of something deeper: poor metabolic health, chronic inflammation, or oxidative stress.
The real issue isn’t the uric acid—it’s what’s going on behind the scenes.
Gout Isn’t an Isolated Problem
Conditions like metabolic syndrome, heart disease, kidney disease, and high blood pressure often show up alongside gout symptoms, not because uric acid is attacking the body, but because the same inflammatory lifestyle is driving them all.
Poor diet, lack of movement, alcohol intake, poor sleep, and constant insulin spikes wear down the system. When your kidneys get overworked, uric acid excretion suffers, too.
That’s when levels rise—not as a villain, but as a red flag.
Is Gout Your Body’s Early Warning Signal?
In many cases, yes. Gout flares might be your body shouting: “Something’s not right.” And it’s not red meat—it’s everything else.
One study even found a link between obstructive sleep apnea and gout flare-ups, pointing to nighttime oxygen dips as a driver of both inflammation and uric acid imbalance.
Bottom line? Gout isn’t just about diet. It’s about the system being under strain.
And before you blame the steak, it’s worth asking what else might be silently pushing your body toward trouble.
Why an Ancestral Diet Makes Sense
Let’s play a little game. Imagine your great-great-great-granddad, barefoot, shirtless, and strolling through the woods with a spear. He’s not tucking into pasta primavera or sipping a low-fat latte.
He’s eating what he can hunt, which means red meat, organ meats, and game meats. And most likely, there is not a gout flare in sight.
Eating Like a Human
Here’s the thing—our bodies are built to thrive on animal foods—meat, fat, marrow, maybe some seasonal plant foods here and there.
What they weren’t built for? Processed foods, high fructose corn syrup, or supermarket meals with a shelf life longer than your driver’s license.
When we eat as we were designed to—real food, from nature, not a factory—we tend to encounter fewer of the issues modern life throws at us.
Managing gout, then, might not be about cutting meat. It might be about cutting the modern nonsense.
The Low Purine Diet: Missing the Point?
Search “how to treat gout,” and you’ll quickly find the low purine diet. It tells you to avoid red meat, organ meats, certain fish, and instead, fill up on grains, low-fat foods, and carbohydrate-heavy meals.
But here’s the catch: your body makes five to ten times more purines than you’ll ever consume in food.
As mentioned, when your body breaks down DNA, ATP, or cells, it generates purines. So, how does cutting out steak make sense if your metabolism is the primary source?
Even worse, many of the “approved” low-purine foods—like cereals, low-fat snacks, and juices—spike blood sugar, increase insulin, and raise uric acid levels through a backdoor.
So you trade steak for toast, and wonder why the gout flares keep coming.
Nobody gets healthier swapping nutrient-dense animal foods for seed oils and plastic-wrapped processed carbs. That’s not treatment—that’s misdirection.
Dietary Approaches That Make More Sense
To prevent gout and support overall health, look at what’s always worked: real food, from nature, not the lab.
- The Mediterranean diet is a step in the right direction. It includes olive oil, fish, some animal foods, and vegetables. It improves inflammation markers and helps with clinical nutrition, though it’s still carb-heavy for some.
- The Keto diet, on the other hand, shifts your body into a fat-burning state. It helps reduce insulin levels, supports weight loss, and can dramatically lower inflammation—all crucial for managing gout. It also encourages ketone production, which some studies suggest may have protective effects for joints and long-term metabolic health.
- Then there’s what I call the Ultimate Human Diet: built on meat, organs, animal fats, seasonal whole foods, and nothing ultra-processed. It mirrors how we’ve eaten for 99% of human history—and that’s exactly why it works.
Ask yourself: Did ancient tribes suffer from gout symptoms while eating liver and steak? Or is this a modern problem born from sugar, grain, alcohol, and the chronic inflammation they leave behind?
You already know the answer.
Here’s a great video by Ken Barry. In it, he applies common sense and a bit of science to the facts and misconceptions of gout.
Practical Steps to Managing Gout the Right Way
If you’re dealing with gout flare-ups, don’t just mask the pain—deal with what’s fuelling the fire. That fire is inflammation. Not meat. Not purines. Inflammation.
To calm it down, you need to eliminate what drives it and return to the foods and habits your body was built for.
Here’s how to do it:
✅ Cut the sugar and fructose – Especially high fructose corn syrup and other added sugars. These are highly inflammatory, damage your liver, spike insulin, and set the stage for chronic pain and flare-ups.
✅ Avoid alcohol, especially beer – It promotes inflammation, insulin resistance, and metabolic dysfunction. For those with gout, it’s like pouring petrol on the fire.
✅ Lose excess fat – Fat tissue around the belly is metabolically active and inflammatory. Losing weight—especially on a keto or animal-based diet—can dramatically reduce inflammatory load.
✅ Eliminate seed oils – These industrial oils (like canola, sunflower, and soybean) are rich in omega-6s that stoke inflammation and oxidative stress. Swap them for tallow, butter, and olive oil.
✅ Ditch refined carbs – White bread, pasta, and cereal spike blood sugar and contribute to systemic inflammation. Gout isn’t caused by steak—it’s caused by sugar-coated nonsense.
✅ Drink coffee – Coffee intake has been associated with a reduced risk of gout, possibly due to its natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Skip the syrup-laced versions.
✅ Prioritise magnesium and potassium – These minerals support hydration, muscle function, and inflammation control. Get them from real food or clean supplements.
✅ Get into ketosis – Whether through keto, low-carb, or animal-based eating, ketones have been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties that can help prevent gout flare-ups.
✅ Eat real food – Meat, organs, eggs, and healthy fats. Nothing from a packet, nothing with a barcode. If your ancestors hadn’t eaten it, question whether you should.
When you lower inflammation, you calm the storm that leads to gout symptoms, without fearing red meat, obsessing over purines, or living off low-fat crackers and cherry juice.
Final Thoughts: Time to Rethink Gout—Logically
Let’s cut through the noise.
I don’t believe red meat is the villain it’s made out to be. Not when we’ve eaten it—alongside organ meats, game meats, and other animal foods—for thousands of years without the modern spike in gout symptoms.
Somewhere along the line, logic was replaced with fear… and the wrong foods were blamed.
Now we have people ditching steak while still necking beers and munching on ultra-processed rubbish. That’s like blaming your sofa for being unfit while washing down your crisps with a pint.
It just doesn’t add up.
The real storm comes from inflammation, fueled by fructose, alcohol, refined carbs, and seed oils.
Combine that with poor sleep, high stress, and too much belly fat, and you’ve got the perfect metabolic mess for a gout flare.
If you’re stuck in that loop, the solution isn’t to fear red meat—it’s to eliminate the junk that’s doing the real damage. Strip things back. Eat real food: Prioritise protein, healthy fat, movement, sleep, and consistency.
Whether that’s through a carnivore diet, animal-based diet, or what I call the Ultimate Human Diet, the answer is simple:
Eat like a human again.
Managing gout shouldn’t be about restriction, confusion, or low-fat crackers. It should be about common sense, anti-inflammatory living, and finally giving your body the fuel it was built for.
And that’s it… have a nutritious day!
FAQs
Is eating red meat bad for gout?
No. Red meat has been wrongly blamed for gout. It’s not the purines—it’s the inflammation. Processed foods, sugar, alcohol, and insulin resistance are the real drivers of gout flare-ups.
What is the number one food that causes gout?
There’s no single food, but high fructose corn syrup is near the top. It fuels systemic inflammation and metabolic dysfunction—the real conditions behind gout, not red meat or purines.
What’s the worst thing to cause gout?
Chronic inflammation is caused by sugar, alcohol, poor sleep, excess body fat, and seed oils. These disrupt metabolic health and create the conditions where gout thrives, not meat or uric acid alone.
Which meat is best for uric acid?
Any high-quality, unprocessed meat can be part of a gout-friendly diet. Organ meats and red meat aren’t the problem when eaten as part of an anti-inflammatory, real-food lifestyle.
