Is Bison Bad for Gout? Bison vs Beef, Elk and Venison

TL;DR

• Bison is a high-purine red meat: listed at about 135 mg per 100 g raw, or roughly 153 mg in a 4-ounce portion. Elk (about 145) and venison (about 160) run a little higher. None has been lab-tested for the USDA purine database.
• Bison isn’t lower in purines than beef. Its advantage is fat and calories: a lean bison sirloin has about half the fat of a lean beef sirloin, though ground bison can be as fatty as 85/15 beef.
• Treat bison like beef: about 4 ounces, now and then, one high-purine food per meal, and not during a flare.

Bison isn’t off-limits with gout, but it isn’t a gout-friendly alternative to beef either. It’s listed at about 135 mg of purines per 100 g, in the same High band as beef, so the same portion rules apply.

People often switch to bison because it’s leaner. That’s a real benefit for weight and heart health. It just doesn’t lower purines.

Is bison high in purines?

Yes. Here’s how bison compares with other red meats and a couple of lighter options, raw weight:

Meat (raw)	Per 100 g	Per 4 oz (113 g)	Band	Lab data
Lean ground beef (93/7)	~190 mg	~215 mg	High	USDA 2024
Venison	~160 mg	~181 mg	High	Not in the database
Elk	~145 mg	~164 mg	High	Not in the database
Bison	~135 mg	~153 mg	High	Not in the database
Beef sirloin	~110 mg	~124 mg	High	2 analyses
Beef, typical muscle cut	~105 mg	~119 mg	High	18 analyses
Ground turkey	~95 mg	~107 mg	Moderate	USDA

Our bands: Low under 50 mg per 100 g, Moderate 50–100, High 100–200, Very high over 200.

An honest caveat: bison, elk and venison aren’t in the USDA and ODS-NIH Database for the Purine Content of Foods (Release 2, 2025), which collects the lab analyses that meet its quality criteria. The figures above come from older purine tables, and Urica uses them consistently. They’re good for ranking foods, not for counting to the milligram.

Beef, by contrast, has plenty of lab data, and its cuts range from about 75 to 190 mg per 100 g. Bison lands inside that range. Whether a bison steak beats a beef steak on purines depends more on the cut than the animal, and the difference is small either way.

Is elk high in purines?

Yes. Elk is listed at about 145 mg per 100 g, a little above bison, and venison (deer) at about 160. A 4-ounce elk steak carries roughly 164 mg.

Elk is extremely lean. USDA FoodData Central lists raw elk at about 1.5 g of fat per 100 g. That fits a pattern in USDA’s own lab data on ground beef: the leaner the meat, the more purines per gram. Ground beef measures about 133 mg per 100 g at 73% lean, 160 at 80% lean and 190 at 93% lean, because fat carries almost no purines. So the leanest red meats tend to sit toward the top of the range, not the bottom.

If you hunt elk or deer, there’s a second issue with lead bullet fragments, which we cover in is venison bad for gout.

Is bison healthier than beef?

For fat and calories, usually yes. Here’s a 4-ounce raw portion, from USDA FoodData Central:

4 oz (113 g), raw	Calories	Fat	Saturated fat	Protein	Iron
Bison top sirloin, lean	128	2.7 g	1.0 g	24 g	3.4 mg
Beef top sirloin, lean	153	5.2 g	1.9 g	25 g	1.8 mg
Elk	125	1.6 g	0.6 g	26 g	3.1 mg
Ground bison, grass-fed	165	8.2 g	3.3 g	23 g	3.1 mg
Ground beef 93/7	172	7.9 g	3.3 g	24 g	2.6 mg
Ground bison (standard)	252	18.0 g	7.7 g	21 g	2.9 mg
Ground beef 85/15	243	17.0 g	6.5 g	21 g	2.4 mg

Beef sirloin is “separable lean, trimmed to 1/8 inch fat, choice.”

Two things stand out:

• Whole-muscle bison is very lean. A bison sirloin has about half the fat and saturated fat of a lean beef sirloin, plus more iron.
• Ground bison varies a lot. USDA’s standard ground bison entry has about as much fat as 85/15 ground beef. The grass-fed entry is closer to 93/7. Read the lean-to-fat ratio on the package.

Fat matters for gout through weight. The American College of Rheumatology’s (ACR) 2020 guideline conditionally recommends weight loss for people with gout who are overweight. Swapping a fatty cut for a lean one can help there. It won’t lower the purine load, though, and lean bison may even carry slightly more purines per gram than fattier meat.

Is a bison burger OK for gout?

A single bison burger is a high-purine meal, in the same range as a beef burger. A quarter-pound raw patty carries about 153 mg, close to an 80/20 beef patty (about 181 mg).

Cooking makes the number per 100 g look higher, but the patty doesn’t gain purines. USDA data show a 113 g raw ground bison patty cooks down to about 87 g as water and fat cook out. The purines stay in a smaller piece of meat. Compare raw with raw, or cooked with cooked.

What turns a burger into a heavy purine meal is what goes with it:

• A second patty doubles the meat.
• Bacon: cooked bacon measures about 429 mg per 100 g in USDA data, so two slices (about 16 g) add roughly 70 mg.
• Beer or soda: beer adds purines and alcohol, and regular soda adds fructose. Both raise uric acid. Water is the better pairing.

The same patterns apply to beef; see is ground beef bad for gout for the side-by-side numbers.

How much bison is reasonable with gout?

The ACR conditionally recommends limiting purine intake for everyone with gout, regardless of disease activity. It doesn’t set a daily number or ban single foods. The Arthritis Foundation is more direct about red meat: it says red meats, naming beef, venison and bison, “should be eaten only occasionally.”

The evidence behind that advice is about meat in general. In the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which followed 47,150 men for 12 years, those who ate the most meat had a 41% higher risk of developing gout than those who ate the least.

In practice, most people do well with:

• About 4 ounces raw as the day’s meat.
• Occasionally, not most days of the week.
• One high-purine food per meal. A bison steak, not steak plus shrimp or liver.
• Low-purine sides: potatoes, rice, vegetables and salad.
• Nothing during a flare. Skip red meat until it settles, and follow the treatment plan your doctor gave you.

If bison is a regular part of your week, log it. An app like Urica can score a plate from a photo and show whether flares follow heavier meat days.

Better swaps for bison

Instead of	Try	Why it helps
Bison “instead of beef” for gout	Either one, in a smaller portion	No real purine saving between them
An 8-oz bison steak	A 4-oz steak with bigger sides	About 305 mg down to about 153
All-bison chili	Half bison, half canned beans	Canned beans, drained and rinsed, measure ~21–25 mg per 100 g
Bison burger	Ground turkey burger	~95 vs ~135 mg per 100 g
Bison jerky as a daily snack	Cheese, yogurt or nuts	Jerky is concentrated meat; see is beef jerky bad for gout

For how beef cuts compare cut by cut, see is beef bad for gout.

The Bottom Line

Bison is a high-purine red meat, listed at about 135 mg per 100 g, inside the range of beef. Elk (about 145) and venison (about 160) run a little higher. None of them has been lab-tested for the USDA database, and lean meats tend to carry more purines per gram, so game isn’t a lower-purine choice. Bison’s real advantage is less fat and fewer calories, at least for whole cuts and lean ground bison. Keep portions to about 4 ounces, eat it occasionally, build the plate around low-purine sides, and skip it during flares.

Sources

• USDA and ODS-NIH. Database for the Purine Content of Foods, Release 2 (2025).
• USDA FoodData Central. Game meat, bison, ground, raw.
• Arthritis Foundation. Gout Diet Dos and Don’ts.
• Choi HK, et al. Purine-rich foods, dairy and protein intake, and the risk of gout in men. New England Journal of Medicine, 2004.
• FitzGerald JD, et al. 2020 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Management of Gout. Arthritis Care & Research, 2020.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Talk to your rheumatologist or healthcare provider about your specific situation.