Is Liver Bad for Gout? Liver and Organ Meats Explained

TL;DR

• Beef, chicken and pork liver measure about 210, 245 and 285 mg of purines per 100 g in the USDA and ODS-NIH database. That’s roughly 40 to 60% lower than many older charts, but still in the very high band.
• A 3-ounce (85 g) portion carries roughly 180 to 240 mg, more than a 4-ounce sirloin steak. Skip liver during flares and keep it rare between them.
• Kidney, heart and brain measured somewhat lower, but on only one or two analyses each, so they stay on the limit list. Sweetbreads have no lab data at all.

Yes, liver is one of the foods worth limiting with gout. Lab analyses put it at about 210 to 285 mg of purines per 100 g rather than the 500-plus you’ll see on many older charts, but that still places liver in the very high band and near the top of the meats it comes from.

The numbers have changed; the advice hasn’t. Here’s what the measurements show and why sources disagree so much.

How Many Purines Are in Liver?

Liver (raw)	Per 100 g	Per 3 oz (85 g)	Band	Analyses in the database
Pork liver	~285 mg	~242 mg	Very high	2 (285–289)
Turkey liver	~268 mg	~228 mg	Very high	None (older tables)
Chicken liver	~245 mg	~208 mg	Very high	3 (236–303)
Beef liver	~210 mg	~179 mg	Very high	2 (197–220)
Lamb liver	~145 mg	~123 mg	High on one analysis	1

Our bands are low (under 50 mg per 100 g), moderate (50–100), high (100–200) and very high (over 200). Values are medians from the USDA and ODS-NIH Database for the Purine Content of Foods (Release 2, 2025).

Lamb liver needs a caveat. Its single analysis, from 1976, came in at about 145 mg, while older tables list it between roughly 300 and 480. One sample isn’t enough to treat lamb liver as safer than other livers.

For perspective, a 3-ounce portion of beef liver (about 179 mg) carries more purines than a 4-ounce sirloin steak (about 124 mg). Within each animal, liver measures roughly twice the typical beef cut, about one and a half times chicken breast, and about two and a half times the typical pork cut. That’s less than the “3 to 10 times” gap some older charts, including ours, used to claim, but it’s a clear step up. For the muscle meats, see is beef bad for gout, is chicken bad for gout and our purine content in meat chart.

Why Do Older Charts Say 500 mg or More?

Earlier versions of Urica’s own chart listed beef liver at 550, chicken liver at 520 and pork liver at 500 mg per 100 g. Several things can push a published number that far from the lab data:

• Uric acid vs. purines. Some tables, including German ones, report the uric acid a food can produce rather than its purine content. The German Gout League’s purine calculator, for example, tells users to divide its uric acid figure by 3 to get the purine value. Copy a uric acid figure into a chart labeled “purines” and it can read up to three times too high.
• Undocumented sources. The USDA database’s authors note that gout websites typically “do not give data on purine bases, nor do they cite their data sources.” Numbers get copied from chart to chart, and nobody can check where they started.
• Raw vs. cooked. Cooking drives off water, which concentrates purines per 100 g. In the database, raw beef kidney measures about 195 mg, and one cooked sample about 231. USDA’s lean ground beef goes from about 190 raw to 252 cooked.
• Samples and methods. The database’s authors write that “variation in purine content may be due to natural differences in foods (such as vegetable cultivars or animal breeds), different sampling plans, sample handling, cooking, laboratory methods, and other factors.”

Urica now uses the database medians for every food it has data on.

Why Liver Is Still a Limit Food

Lower numbers don’t make liver an everyday food, for four reasons:

1. It’s still very high. At 210 to 285 mg per 100 g, liver sits in the top band, and a normal 3-ounce portion carries about 180 to 240 mg.
2. The purine mix matters. The USDA database documentation notes that adenine levels were highest in organ meats such as chicken and beef liver, and that in feeding studies adenine and hypoxanthine raised serum urate while guanine and xanthine did not.
3. Gout guidance singles it out. The Arthritis Foundation says “organ meats (sweetbreads, liver, tongue) are particularly high in purines, which can increase your uric acid levels.” The American College of Rheumatology’s 2020 guideline conditionally recommends limiting purine intake for people with gout regardless of disease activity.
4. Vitamin A. The NHS calls liver “a particularly rich source of vitamin A” and warns you may get too much if you eat it more than once a week. It advises avoiding liver and liver products during pregnancy.

What About Kidney, Heart, Brain and Sweetbreads?

Organ meat (raw)	Per 100 g	Band	Lab data
Beef kidney	~195 mg	High	2 analyses; older tables ~450
Pork kidney	~195 mg	High	1 analysis; older tables ~400
Beef heart	~180 mg	High	2 analyses; older tables ~250
Beef brain	~160 mg	High	1 analysis; older tables ~200
Beef tongue	~90 mg	Moderate	1 analysis; older tables ~160

All of these came in lower than the old figures, some by half, but each rests on one or two analyses. That isn’t enough to relax the advice, so treat them like liver: rare, small portions, never during a flare.

Sweetbreads (thymus) and lamb kidney have no lab data in the database at all. Older tables rank sweetbreads among the highest foods of any kind, some at over 1,000 mg per 100 g, and list lamb kidney at around 410. Neither figure can be checked, so treat both as very high.

How Much Liver Is Reasonable?

• Portion: if you eat it, keep it to 2 to 3 ounces, roughly 120 to 240 mg of purines depending on the animal.
• Frequency: occasionally. For vitamin A alone, the NHS flags more than once a week as too often; gout is a reason to go well below that.
• Make it the only high-purine food that day. Liver and onions with a side of bacon, or chopped liver before a brisket dinner, stacks quickly.
• Spreads: liverwurst is listed at about 180 mg per 100 g in older tables (no lab data). The one pâté analysis found about 80. Keep either to a thin layer.
• Liver supplements: desiccated liver is dried liver, and drying concentrates purines. The USDA database’s authors note that some supplements with significant purine content don’t list purines on the label. Ask your doctor before taking them.

An app like Urica can log an organ-meat meal and show how it fits with the rest of your day.

Liver During a Flare vs. Between Flares

During a flare, skip liver and all organ meats. Start the treatment your doctor prescribed; the ACR guideline strongly recommends colchicine, NSAIDs or glucocorticoids as first-line options. The Arthritis Foundation suggests at least 8 glasses of nonalcoholic fluids a day, and 16 during a flare, unless you’ve been told to limit fluids.

Between flares, an occasional small portion is a personal call to make with your doctor, ideally when your uric acid is at target. If you take a urate-lowering medicine, see allopurinol and diet: the medicine works alongside purine limits, not instead of them.

Better Swaps for Liver and Organ Meats

Instead of	Try	Why it helps
Liver and onions	Sirloin or flank steak with onions	~100–110 vs. ~210 mg per 100 g
Chopped liver	Egg salad	Eggs measure close to zero
Liverwurst sandwich	Cheese or egg sandwich	Cheese ~10 vs. ~180 mg per 100 g
Chicken liver pâté on a cheese board	Soft cheese or hummus	Cheese ~10, cooked chickpeas ~10 mg per 100 g
Mixed grill with kidney	The same grill without the offal	Removes the organ meat

The Bottom Line

Liver is still a limit food for gout. Lab analyses put beef, chicken and pork liver at about 210 to 285 mg of purines per 100 g: roughly 40 to 60% lower than many older charts, which may mix up uric acid and purines or don’t cite a source, but still in the very high band. Kidney, heart and brain measured somewhat lower on thin data, and sweetbreads haven’t been measured at all. Skip organ meats during flares, keep liver to a small portion on rare occasions between them, and talk to your doctor if you’re pregnant or considering liver supplements.

Sources

• USDA Agricultural Research Service. USDA and ODS-NIH Database for the Purine Content of Foods. Release 2, 2025, and its documentation.
• Arthritis Foundation. Gout Diet Dos and Don’ts.
• FitzGerald JD, et al. 2020 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Management of Gout. Arthritis Care & Research, 2020.
• NHS. Vitamin A.
• Deutsche Gicht-Liga. Purinrechner (purine calculator). In German.

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