Oatmeal causing Gout attack?

In summary, Instant Oatmeal have medium level of Purine and is not good for gout. One cannot take too much especially during gout attack.  Nevertheless, other types of oat could be good for gout. 

If you are interested in my gout experience with oatmeal, please read on......


Will oatmeal cause Gout?  My doctor said "No".  That was what I believed.  Here is one of my experiences.

One Monday morning, my foot got swollen suddenly.  I knew that it was the gout attack again.  So, I tried to recall the food list of last couple days to see what was causing the attack.  The food list was:

Thursday : Hotpot (only very few pieces of meat and mainly vegetables)

Friday : Bread/Curry beef rice/Fish ball noodles.

Saturday: Oatmeal/instant noodles/Vegetables+Tofu/Stream Chicken

Sunday: Sandwiches/Lunch mainly with vegetables and little meat/dinner is similar+2 pieces of Mushroom.

Based on the list, it should be the last two pieces of mushroom triggering the gout attack.  My question was  "Which food on the list made my uric acid level so high?".  Usually, two pieces of mushroom should not trigger the attack.  Yes, I know there were some food with higher Purine level.  However, I had controlled the food intake quantities quite well that such little amount should not be a big problem.   And I had been managing that quite well over years.

After reviewing the list several times, I spotted "Oatmeal", which everyone tells me it is ok to eat.  It is supposed to be the "healthy food", which can lower cholesterol level and good for heart.  I recalled that I took a very large bowl of it on Saturday morning, since I had had hotpot and Curry on Thursday and Friday.  I thought Oatmeal should help keeping my uric acid level low.  "Would Oatmeal be the killer this time?".

Then I searched for oatmeal and gout on the internet.  Some say oatmeal is good for gout and some say bad.  The information was very confusing.  Reading it over and over, I spotted the word "instant oatmeal".  Why was "instant" so specifically mentioned?  With some more articles,  I started to realize that there are different kinds of oats, "whole gain oats" and "instant oats".    "Instant oats" is fast cooking processed oatmeal.  "Whole gain oats" is slow cooked oatmeal which could be good for gout......

Finally, I got the conclusion.

"Instant Oatmeal have medium level of Purine and is not good for gout. One cannot take too much especially during gout attack.  Nevertheless, other types of oat could be good for gout."

The oatmeal I took on Saturday was instant Oatmeal.  Finally, I found the killer!

So next time, when looking for oat, we need to look for "whole gain oats".

Suggested Reading

1.  People have similar experience

2.  Which kind of oats are good for Gout?

3.  Quick-cooking oatmeal can be bad for gout

4.  Oatmeal with high and moderately high purine level

5. About Oats