However, this mechanism does not mean that all foods containing purines increase uric acid in the blood.
Some studies show that soy protein and isoflavones do not create statistically significant changes in uric acid in the blood.
Soy products such as tofu can be considered a quality protein source for people with high uric acid or gout.
One point that is easily overlooked is that "soybeans" and "tofu" are not completely the same in terms of metabolic effects.
Whole soybeans can increase uric acid levels in the first few hours after eating. Meanwhile, soy products studied, including tofu, did not create a similar significant increase.
This shows that you should not take the purine content of the ingredients and immediately infer that a dish made from those ingredients will definitely cause uric acid to increase sharply.
A notable advantage of tofu is that it provides plant-based protein, thereby helping gout patients have more options to replace red meat or some sources of animal protein.
This is important because many epidemiological evidences show a closer link between diets rich in red meat, seafood, alcohol and fructose-rich drinks and the risk of increased uric acid or gout than soy foods.
However, gout patients should not understand that eating tofu will directly lower uric acid or may replace medication.
Tofu should be seen as a source of protein that can be included in a balanced diet, rather than a food that treats gout.
Patients can prioritize simple tofu processing such as steaming, boiling, cooking soup or light sauce instead of fried tofu with a lot of oil, while controlling the total amount of food in the day.
In particular, do not turn tofu into a single source of protein but diversify food.
Thus, the answer is not "whether tofu has purines or not", but the actual impact of food in the entire diet.
Gout patients do not have to abstain from tofu completely. Using tofu with a reasonable portion size, processing it healthily and replacing a portion of protein sources at higher risk may be a suitable choice in a diet that controls uric acid.
