Is Ham Bad for Gout? Purines, Sodium and Holiday Ham
Cured and deli ham run about 160 mg of purines per 100 g (high). A 3 oz slice now and then is fine; big holiday portions and daily deli ham add up.
TL;DR
- Cured ham has about 160 mg of purines per 100 g: roughly 135 mg in a 3-ounce slice and about 90 mg in 2 ounces of deli ham.
- The real extras are sodium (cured ham carries over 1,100 mg in 3 ounces) and, at the holidays, sugary glazes and oversized plates.
- One modest slice with vegetables and water is a reasonable gout meal. A daily deli-ham habit or a 6-ounce holiday serving is where it adds up.
Ham isn’t off-limits with gout, but it isn’t a free food either. Cured and deli ham are high-purine meats, similar to chicken breast and below pork loin, so the answer depends on how much you eat, how often, and what comes with it.
Cured and deli ham bring two extra things fresh pork doesn’t: a lot of salt, and often sugar in the cure or the glaze. Salt doesn’t raise uric acid, and the sugar on a single slice is modest, but both are worth knowing about, especially at holiday meals.
How many purines are in ham?
Our purine chart, based on the USDA & ODS-NIH Purine Database (2025), puts cured or deli ham at about 160 mg of purines per 100 g, in the High band, and fresh (uncured) ham at about 105 mg. Here’s how a typical serving compares with other proteins:
| Food | Purines (mg/100 g) | Typical serving | Purines per serving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pork loin, raw | 235 | 3 oz (85 g) | ~200 mg |
| Deli turkey | 235 | 2 oz (56 g) | ~132 mg |
| Cured ham, sliced | 160 | 3 oz (85 g) | ~136 mg |
| Deli ham | 160 | 2 oz (56 g) | ~90 mg |
| Chicken breast, raw | 160 | 3 oz (85 g) | ~136 mg |
| Prosciutto | 140 | 1 oz (28 g) | ~39 mg |
| Turkey breast, raw | 120 | 3 oz (85 g) | ~102 mg |
| Beef sirloin, raw | 110 | 3 oz (85 g) | ~94 mg |
| Fresh (uncured) ham, raw | 105 | 3 oz (85 g) | ~89 mg |
| Tofu | 25 | 100 g | ~25 mg |
| Eggs | under 2.5 | 2 large (100 g) | under 3 mg |
Values from our purine chart, based on the USDA & ODS-NIH Purine Database (2025); fresh ham and turkey breast have no database entry, so those are Urica’s values. Per-serving figures are simple math from the per-100 g values.
A note on the numbers: purine values depend on the lab and the method. For cured and deli ham, published analyses range from about 70 mg per 100 g (a Japanese sample) to about 250 mg (USDA’s 2024 tests on US ready-to-eat ham), and our chart uses the middle of that range. Older tables, including the previous version of our chart, put ham at 95 to 105 mg. The newer US data also moved deli turkey and pork loin up, so processed meats are not a lower-purine option. Ham sits with the everyday meats, well above eggs, dairy and most plant foods.
That ranking matters because of what the long-term data show. In the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study of more than 47,000 men, those who ate the most meat (a group that included processed meats like bacon, sausage and hot dogs) had a 41% higher risk of developing gout than those who ate the least. Each extra daily serving of meat was linked to about a 21% higher risk. The Arthritis Foundation’s gout cheat sheet goes further and puts red meat, including pork, on its avoid list.
Is deli ham worse than baked ham?
Per 100 g, deli ham and a cured ham you bake at home fall in the same range. What changes is the pattern. Deli ham tends to show up every day in lunches, often in a stack of several slices, and a daily habit adds up faster than an occasional dinner.
Processed meats are also part of what researchers call the Western eating pattern: red and processed meats, fries, refined grains, sweets and desserts. In a 26-year study of 44,444 men, those who ate most in this pattern had a 42% higher risk of gout than those who ate least. The DASH-style pattern (vegetables, fruit, nuts and legumes, low-fat dairy and whole grains, with less red and processed meat) was linked to a 32% lower risk. For the sausage side of the same question, see is sausage bad for gout.
The other difference is salt. Here’s what USDA FoodData Central lists:
| Ham type | Serving | Sodium |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh ham (uncured pork leg), roasted | 3 oz (85 g) | ~51 mg |
| Deli ham, sliced, 96% fat-free | 2 oz (56 g) | ~529 mg |
| Cured ham, boneless, roasted | 3 oz (85 g) | ~1,177 mg |
| Cured ham, low-sodium, cooked | 3 oz (85 g) | ~824 mg |
| Cured ham, boneless, roasted | 6 oz (170 g) | ~2,355 mg |
The Daily Value for sodium is 2,300 mg. A generous holiday plate of cured ham uses all of it before the sides, and even “low-sodium” cured ham carries more than 800 mg in 3 ounces.
Does the salt in ham raise uric acid?
Not in the way you might expect. In a controlled feeding study within the DASH-Sodium trial, 103 adults ate low, medium and high amounts of sodium for 30 days each. Moving from low to high sodium lowered serum uric acid slightly (by about 0.4 mg/dL) while raising blood pressure.
That’s not a reason to eat more salt. It means salt isn’t a gout trigger in itself, and it’s worth watching for other reasons. Gout often comes with high blood pressure and heart disease. And some blood pressure medicines raise uric acid: the American College of Rheumatology’s 2020 gout guideline suggests switching from hydrochlorothiazide to another blood pressure medicine when that’s feasible. That’s a conversation for your doctor, but keeping salt reasonable is something you can do at the table.
What about holiday ham?
Holiday ham has three things going on at once:
- Portion size. A 3-ounce slice of cured ham is about 135 mg of purines. The heaped 6-ounce serving many people take at Christmas or Easter is closer to 270 mg, before the second helping.
- The glaze. Brown sugar, honey, maple and pineapple glazes all add sugar, and table sugar and honey are both partly fructose, the one sugar that raises uric acid directly. USDA lists honey-cured ham at about 7 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, almost all from the sweet cure, compared with close to zero for plain cured ham. A brushed-on glaze adds more.
- The rest of the table. Sweet potato casserole, rolls, pie, and a few beers or glasses of wine turn one high-purine food into a heavy day. Alcohol, beer especially, is a well-established flare trigger.
Our gout and Thanksgiving guide walks through a full holiday plate, and the same approach works for a ham dinner.
How much ham is reasonable with gout?
The ACR guideline makes a conditional recommendation to limit purine intake. It doesn’t set a daily number. In practice, most people do well with something like this:
- One portion, about 3 ounces (roughly the size of a deck of cards), counted as the meat for that day.
- Not every day. If deli ham is your default lunch, rotate in eggs, cheese, Greek yogurt or a bean salad on most days.
- Plenty of vegetables and water on the same plate. Skip the beer with it.
- Go smaller during a flare. While a joint is flaring, it makes sense to keep meat portions small until it settles.
If you’re unsure how a ham dinner lands for you, log it. An app like Urica can score the meal’s purines and sugar from a photo and line it up against any flare in the days after.
What are better choices than ham?
| Instead of | Try | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Daily deli-ham sandwich | Egg salad, cheese, or hummus and vegetables | Far fewer purines, less sodium |
| Thick-cut cured ham steak | A smaller slice plus a larger vegetable side | Same flavor, fewer purines |
| Brown-sugar or honey glaze | Mustard, garlic and herb crust | Drops the added sugar |
| Cured holiday ham | Roast fresh (uncured) ham | Likely fewer purines, a fraction of the sodium |
| Ham and beer | Ham with water, or a single glass of wine | Beer adds its own purines and raises uric acid |
For how ham compares with the rest of the pig, from bacon to tenderloin, see is pork bad for gout.
The Bottom Line
Cured and deli ham are high-purine meats, similar to chicken breast and below pork loin. Ham isn’t dangerous in itself, but it’s easy to overdo: a daily deli-ham habit, a heaped holiday plate, or a sugary glaze can all push a gout-friendly meal off course. Keep portions to about 3 ounces, don’t make it an everyday food, go easy on sweet glazes, and pair it with vegetables and water. The salt won’t raise your uric acid, but it matters for the blood pressure and heart health that often come with gout.
Sources
- FitzGerald JD, et al. 2020 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Management of Gout. Arthritis Care & Research, 2020.
- Choi HK, et al. Purine-rich foods, dairy and protein intake, and the risk of gout in men. New England Journal of Medicine, 2004.
- Juraschek SP, et al. Effects of the DASH diet and sodium intake on serum uric acid. Arthritis & Rheumatology, 2016.
- USDA and ODS-NIH. Database for the Purine Content of Foods, Release 2 (2025).
- USDA FoodData Central. Ham, sliced, pre-packaged, deli meat (96% fat free, water added).
This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Talk to your rheumatologist or healthcare provider about your specific situation.
Track Your Personal Response
Everyone responds differently to foods. Urica helps you track how specific foods affect YOUR flare patterns by analyzing purines, fructose, and glycemic load together — not just purines alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ham high in purines?
Yes, it's in the high range. The USDA & ODS-NIH purine database puts cured and deli ham at about 160 mg per 100 g (published analyses range from about 70 to 250), so a 3-ounce slice carries roughly 135 mg of purines. Fresh, uncured ham is lower, at around 105 mg per 100 g. That is similar to chicken breast and below pork loin. It's below liver and sardines, but it's still a food to portion, not one to eat freely.
Is deli ham OK for gout?
A couple of slices in a sandwich now and then is fine for most people with gout. Two ounces of deli ham carries about 90 mg of purines. The bigger issues are how often you eat it and the salt: the same 2 ounces carries around 530 mg of sodium. Processed meats also belong to the Western eating pattern that has been linked to higher gout risk, so treat deli ham as an occasional choice rather than a daily lunch.
Can I eat ham at Christmas or Easter if I have gout?
Yes, if you keep the portion modest. A 3-ounce slice of cured ham is about 135 mg of purines, but a heaped 6-ounce holiday serving is closer to 270 mg, and a sweet glaze adds sugar. Take one slice, fill the rest of the plate with vegetables, drink water alongside any wine, and skip the beer. If you're in the middle of a flare, keeping meat portions small until it settles is sensible.
Does the salt in ham cause gout flares?
Not directly. In a controlled feeding trial, eating more sodium lowered uric acid slightly while raising blood pressure. So salt is not a uric acid trigger in itself. It still matters, because gout often travels with high blood pressure and heart disease, and some blood pressure medicines, such as thiazide diuretics, raise uric acid. Keeping salt reasonable protects the rest of your health.