Is Venison Bad for Gout? Venison, Elk and Bison Compared
Venison, elk and bison sit in the high purine band, about 135–160 mg per 100 g, similar to or above most beef. Portions, lead in game, and better swaps.
TL;DR
- Venison (about 160 mg of purines per 100 g), elk (about 145) and bison (about 135) all sit in the high band. None has been analyzed for the USDA database, so treat these figures as rough.
- Measured beef cuts have a median of about 105 mg, so game is similar to or somewhat above beef. It isn’t a lower-purine alternative, even though it’s leaner.
- A 4-ounce (113 g) portion is roughly 150–180 mg. Eat it occasionally, one meat per meal, never during a flare, and watch for lead fragments in hunted game.
Venison, elk and bison aren’t off-limits with gout, but they aren’t a lower-purine alternative to beef either. All three sit in the high band, at or somewhat above most beef cuts, so treat them like any red meat: modest portions, not every day, and not during a flare.
Game is often chosen because it’s lean. That helps with calories and weight, but not with purines.
How Many Purines Are in Venison, Elk and Bison?
| Meat (raw) | Per 100 g | Per 4 oz (113 g) | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venison (deer) | ~160 mg | ~181 mg | High |
| Elk | ~145 mg | ~164 mg | High |
| Wild boar | ~145 mg | ~164 mg | High |
| Bison | ~135 mg | ~153 mg | High |
| Rabbit | ~130 mg | ~147 mg | High |
| Goat | ~120 mg | ~136 mg | High |
Our bands are low (under 50 mg per 100 g), moderate (50–100), high (100–200) and very high (over 200).
An honest caveat: none of these meats is 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. Published figures for game vary a lot from table to table, and these are the values Urica uses consistently. Use them to rank foods, not to count to the milligram.
Is Venison Worse Than Beef or Pork?
Beef and pork do have lab data, much of it from USDA’s own 2024 analyses of US retail meat:
| Meat (raw) | Purines per 100 g | Band | Lab data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pork loin | ~235 mg | Very high | USDA 2024 |
| Lean ground beef (93/7) | ~190 mg | High | USDA 2024 |
| Venison | ~160 mg | High | Not in the database |
| Regular ground beef (80/20) | ~160 mg | High | USDA 2024 |
| Elk | ~145 mg | High | Not in the database |
| Bison | ~135 mg | High | Not in the database |
| Beef ribeye | ~125 mg (75–175) | High | 2 analyses |
| Pork, typical muscle cut | ~115 mg | High | 9 analyses |
| Beef sirloin | ~110 mg | High | 2 analyses |
| Beef, typical muscle cut | ~105 mg | High | 18 analyses |
The “typical muscle cut” rows are medians. Beef cuts range from about 75 to 190 mg per 100 g and pork cuts from about 70 to 245, so the cut matters as much as the animal. Our guides to beef, ground beef and pork go cut by cut.
Why would lean game sit toward the top? USDA’s ground beef analyses show the pattern: the leaner the meat, the more purines per 100 g. Ground beef measures about 133 mg at 73% lean, 160 at 80% lean and 190 at 93% lean, because fat carries almost none. Venison, elk and bison are lean, so it’s no surprise the tables put them at the upper end of the red-meat range.
The Arthritis Foundation names venison and bison alongside beef as red meats that “should be eaten only occasionally.” Our data don’t show red meat as consistently higher than poultry (raw chicken breast measures about 160, with analyses ranging from 130 to 290), so the useful takeaway is about how much meat you eat, not its color.
Lead in Hunted Venison
If you hunt, or eat meat from someone who does, there’s a second issue. Lead bullets can fragment in the animal. In testing reported by Connecticut’s wildlife agency, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture found lead fragments in 26% of packages of commercially ground venison and 2% of whole-muscle cuts. Fragments averaged 5 inches from the bullet channel, and some were found up to 18 inches away.
Lead is relevant to gout. High lead exposure is a known cause of gout, and a 2012 analysis of 6,153 US adults found that those in the top quarter of blood lead levels, still within the range then considered acceptable, had a 3.6-fold higher risk of gout after adjustment for kidney function and other factors. It was a cross-sectional study, so it shows a link, not proof of cause.
Practical steps: use non-lead (for example, copper) bullets, trim generously around the wound channel, and favor whole cuts over ground meat from animals shot with lead.
How Much Venison Is Reasonable?
- Portion: about 4 ounces raw weight, roughly 150–180 mg of purines for venison, elk or bison.
- Frequency: an occasional main, not most days.
- One high-purine food per meal: a venison steak, not steak plus liver, and no shellfish starter.
- Chili and stews: replace some of the meat with beans. Canned beans, drained and rinsed, measured about 20–25 mg per 100 g in USDA analyses.
- Jerky and sticks: drying concentrates purines and salt. A small handful is a snack; a whole bag is a meal’s worth of meat.
- Organ meats from the harvest: heart and liver are organ meats. See is liver bad for gout for why they need more caution.
Tracking helps if you eat a lot of game in hunting season. An app like Urica can log a venison meal from a photo and show how the week’s purines stack up.
Venison During a Flare vs. Between Flares
During a flare, skip venison, elk, bison and other red meat until it settles. Start the treatment your doctor prescribed; the American College of Rheumatology’s 2020 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, a 4-ounce portion now and then is reasonable for most people, with low-purine sides such as potatoes, rice and vegetables. The same guideline conditionally recommends limiting purine intake for people with gout regardless of disease activity. If you take a urate-lowering medicine, it strongly recommends keeping serum urate below 6 mg/dL, and diet still matters alongside it.
Better Swaps for Venison, Elk and Bison
| Instead of | Try | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| All-meat venison chili | Half venison, half canned beans | Beans ~20–25 vs. ~160 mg per 100 g |
| Extra-lean ground venison burgers | Ground turkey burgers | ~95 vs. ~160 mg per 100 g |
| Venison steak with liver and onions | The steak alone, with vegetables | Avoids stacking organ meat |
| Jerky as a daily snack | Cheese, yogurt or almonds | ~10, ~5–10 and ~30 mg per 100 g |
| Bison “instead of beef” for gout | Either one, in a smaller portion | No real purine saving |
The Bottom Line
Venison, elk and bison are high-purine red meats, listed at roughly 135 to 160 mg per 100 g, similar to or somewhat above most beef. They haven’t been analyzed for the USDA database, and lean meats tend to carry more purines per 100 g, so game isn’t a gout-friendly alternative to beef. Keep portions to about 4 ounces, eat it occasionally, skip it during flares, and if the meat was hunted with lead bullets, trim generously and favor whole cuts.
Sources
- USDA Agricultural Research Service. USDA and ODS-NIH Database for the Purine Content of Foods. Release 2, 2025.
- 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.
- Krishnan E, Lingala B, Bhalla V. Low-level lead exposure and the prevalence of gout: an observational study. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2012.
- Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Lead Bullet Fragments in Wild Game.
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 venison better than beef for gout?
Not for purines. Venison is listed at about 160 mg per 100 g, while measured beef cuts have a median of about 105 mg. Venison hasn't been analyzed for the USDA database, so the comparison is rough, but lean meat tends to carry more purines per 100 g, not fewer. Venison's advantages are less fat and fewer calories, which help with weight, not with purines.
Is bison OK for gout?
In a normal portion, between flares, yes. Bison is listed at about 135 mg of purines per 100 g, in the high band and similar to a typical beef steak. That figure comes from older tables rather than a USDA lab analysis. The Arthritis Foundation groups bison with beef and venison as red meats to eat only occasionally, so treat a bison burger like a beef one.
Is venison jerky bad for gout?
It's concentrated meat. Drying removes water, so jerky packs the purines of a larger portion of fresh meat into a small bag, along with plenty of salt. The USDA purine database has no entry for jerky. A small handful as an occasional snack is fine between flares; a whole bag counts as a full meat serving or more.
Can I eat deer liver or heart with gout?
Treat them as organ meats, which means rarely and in small portions. Deer organs haven't been analyzed, but the closest measured equivalents, beef liver and beef heart, come in at about 210 and 180 mg of purines per 100 g on the one or two analyses available, and older tables list them higher. Skip them entirely during a flare, and don't pair them with a venison steak in the same meal.