Purines in beer - is homebrew as bad as they say?

Apparently beer is on the prohibited list of foods for gout sufferers. This is because brewer's yeast is supposedly really high in purines that boost uric acid. They list purines by mg/100 gm for specific foods and you do the math to figure out many mg are in your serving. Ideal daily allowance < 400 mg. Long story short: yeast has 1810 mg/100 gm. Since there's only 11 gm dry yeast in a typical 5 gal batch this would be 0.31mg/oz or less than 4 mg/12 oz serving. Anybody know what the real deal is?

I've read that too.  Dunno 'bout the math, but an 11g package would (hopefully) double or better during the growth phase, and I guess that cranks out the uric acid. 

The active in celery is supposed to reduce uric acid, so if you're afflicted, you might try to find that at a vitamin shop.  Or juice some celery. 

http://www.juicing-for-health.com/health-benefits-of-celery.html

If the yeast divides 20X during its life cycle that's still only 80 mg/12 oz. Highly flocculant strains settle out during fermentation. The powers that be claim that filtered lagers have the lowest amount because suspended yeast has been removed. Seems like its the yeast itself since it doesn't appear to produce purines as a byproduct. The 1810 mg/100 gm is based on consuming brewer's yeast as a dietary supplement. Hard liquors have essentially zero residual purines due the distillation process. The quest continues.....

The alcohol in beer contains the purines that can cause in increase in gout symptoms.  I imagine it is exacerbated by the presence of brewers yeast,  A homebrewer could filter most the yeast out but the purines in the alcohol will still exist.    Session beers have less alcohol that the big imperials and that could be an option for gout sufferers.  Additionally, knowing your trigger level can also allow anywhere from 12 oz to 44 oz a day. 

- Joe

Isn't it the same alcohol, in wine and spirits, that doesn't increase uric acid nearly as much?

About 20 percent of the crude protein nitrogen in yeast is in the form of purines. This is independent of alcohol production apparently.