Determination of purine contents of alcoholic beverages using high performance liquid chromatography

The purine contents of alcoholic beverages were determined in order to utilize them in the dietary care of gout and hyperuricemia. In the management of these diseases, restriction of both alcohol and purine intake are important. The method employed in this study is a quantitative determination of purine contents by HPLC. Alcoholic beverages were hydrolyzed to corresponding purine bases, which were then separated by HPLC, and base peaks were identified using an enzymatic peak-shift technique. This method is sufficiently accurate and reproducible to examine the purine contents of various alcoholic beverages that patients consume. Purine contents were as follows: spirits, 0.7-26.4 micromol/L; regular beer, 225.0-580.2 micromol/L; low-malt beer, 193.4-267.9 micromol/L; low-malt and low-purine beer, 13.3 micromol/L; other liquors, 13.1-818.3 micromol/L. Some local and low-alcohol beers were found to contain about 2.5 times more purines than regular beer. As some alcoholic beverages contain considerable amounts of purines, we recommend that excess consumption of these beverages be avoided. These data should be useful in the management of hyperuricemia and gout, not only for patients but also for physicians.