MSG/Additives, causing Gout Attack?

What makes me think MSG (Monosodium glutamate)/Additives could cause Gout Attack?  It takes me almost half a year to sort that out.  

Here is some of my experience that I could not explain.

1.  My honeymoon was in Hokkaido, Japan.  During that week, my diets had different kinds of seafood, such as prawns, fishes, and scallops. Some of them are Sushi and some are well cooked.  These are high purine food.  No gout attack happened.  WHY?

2.  Although having the risks of Gout attack, I enjoy Beef and Lamb steaks in nice restaurants around twice a year. The steaks there are pretty good and fresh.  Again no gout attack.  WHY?

3.  I usually bring my lunch box to work and have dinner at home. However, I inevitably have meals outside more than often, especially when I am busy at work or family.  Of course, I would keep control of what I ate for the meals.  Nevertheless,  I found that some of my Gout attacks arrived whenever I ate outside more often, even with food control.   WHY?

4.  After a Gout attack, if I keep eating at home and bring lunch box, my swollen foot would heal faster.  On the other hand, if I eat outside, the gout attacks again easily. WHY?

I tried to summaries these experiences and see if they have anything in common.  Freshness and additives-free!  Food in Japan, the steaks in the restaurants, my lunch box and meals at home are almost all fresh food and no/very few additives added.

So I started to search the web about MSG/Additives and Gout.   I found that the “MBM food additives guide” mentioning that some of the flavours enhancers should be avoided by people suffering from gout and ashematic people, but not MSG (E621).  Among the list,  Guanylate (E626, E627, E628, and E629), Inosinate (E630, E631, E632, and E633), and their compounds Ribonucltides (E634 and E635) are metabolised to purines.  They are mainly used in soups, sauces and seasonings.  Guanlyates also can be used as a substitute for table salt.  Based on what I found, I strongly believe that these additives are added in many food products.  According to GMO, there is no labelling requirement for these additives.  Hence, we don’t know how much is in the products.  That could be the answers my questions!  MSG does not cause gout attack while some other additives do.  

In Chinese, we call all additives generally as “MSG”.   It is well known in Hong Kong that restaurants use “MSG” in most of the dishes.  I am not sure what additives they are actually using.  In addition, most preprocessed food such as ham and sausage have different kinds of additives.  That could be reason why eating outside will increase the chance of gout attack.

So, the answers is bit surprising.  MSG is not responsible for the gout attack while some other additives are.  As there are so many additives in our foods, it is hard to know which kinds we should take or not.  So, the best thing is to take fresh or non preprocessed food.

Suggested Reading

1. MBM Food Additives Guide

2. Comments on MSG, Guanylate, Inosinate , and Ribonucltides

3. More info on Inosinate

4. More info on Guanylate