Diet

• People with gout should avoid eating large amounts of animal protein because these food increase levels of uric acid in the blood. According to the Mayo Clinic, you should eat no more than 5 to 6 ounces of lean meat daily. Organ meat such as liver and kidneys and oily fish like herring, mackerel and anchovies are especially bad for people with gout. To replace protein, you should eat more low-fat dairy products and complex carbohydrates. Drinking plenty of liquids can help dilute uric acid but drinking alcohol can stop an individual from excreting it.
  
  

Coffee

• According to the Mayo Clinic, studies have found an association between coffee and lower uric acid levels. But before you go out on a java bender, it is important to know that no study has proven exactly how or why coffee affects uric acid in the bloodstream. The Mayo Clinic does not suggest non-coffee drinkers begin drinking coffee, but new studies will begin to find the link between coffee and lower uric acid levels.
  
  

Cherries

• In a 1950 study, Dr. Ludwig W. Blau cured his own gout by eating a bowl of cherries a day. According to Blau, eating six to eight cherries a day is enough to keep uric acid levels to the point where a gout flare-up is unlikely. Cherries are full of compounds that stop the breakdown of collagen, which is used in the connective tissue of the joints that gout attacks. Cherries also contain an enzyme that cuts down uric acid as well as anthocyanins, which work as an anti-inflammatory.