Purine content of Shrimp
Fresh shrimp measures 166–187 mg of purines per 100 g — high, and lower than its place on avoid-lists suggests. Drying is what changes the picture: dried shrimp runs from 220 mg up to 749 mg. Grilling roughly doubles the fresh figure.
Fresh shrimp
166–187 mg
High
Raw or boiled, per 100 g · USDA and NHC 2024
Grilled shrimp
389 mg
Extremely high
Per 100 g · NHC 2024
Dried shrimp
220–749 mg
Extremely high
Standard dried through dried sakura · USDA and NHC 2024
Avoid or strictly limit — significant gout flare risk.
On this page (6)
What a portion of shrimp actually contributes
Six medium shrimp weigh roughly 90 g, which comes to about 164 mg of purines. A 150 g main course of the same shrimp comes to about 274 mg.
Dried shrimp inverts that arithmetic, because it is a seasoning rather than a protein. A tablespoon scattered over noodles is about 8 g — roughly 18 mg, less than a slice of bread, despite a headline figure well above fresh shrimp. It is also the form most likely to go unnoticed, dissolving into stocks, XO sauce, dumpling fillings and stir-fried greens without appearing in any dish description. Small quantities, so a small contribution, but an invisible one.
More practical swaps
Lower-purine options you can realistically buy or order instead — not only the lowest numbers in the category.
- Cod71 mg
Fresh cod, per 100 g. A white fish that stands in for shrimp in most dishes, at well under half the purines.
- Eggsabout 1 mg
Boiled egg, per 100 g — among the lowest values in the whole database, and complete protein.
- Tofu21.9–68 mg
Briefly boiled tofu at the low end, firm water tofu at the high end. Boiling leaches purines into water that is discarded.
- Chicken leg or thigh118–142 mg
Lower than shrimp and much lower than chicken breast, which is the cut most people assume is the safe one.
Why the numbers vary
Does the form of shrimp change the purine level?
More than the species does, and the mechanism is water. Drying removes most of a shrimp's weight and leaves the purines behind, so dried shrimp concentrates to roughly four times fresh at the top end. Grilling does a milder version of the same thing — dry heat drives off moisture, which is why grilled shrimp lands about double boiled.
Boiling barely moves the number, and can push it slightly downward: purines are water-soluble, so some leach into cooking water that is then poured away. Between two shrimp dishes, the wet method is the lower one.
The seafood measured here run from 7.7 mg to 1399.7 mg per 100 g, so the category is a poor guide on its own — which specific food, and prepared how, decides almost everything.
Preparation matters more than the food's name. Shrimp, Sakura, dried measures 748.9 mg, while Fresh prawn measures 101.5 mg — a difference of 7.4 times. Drying and grilling remove water and concentrate what is left; boiling can move purines into water that is then poured away.
Every form of shrimp measured (18)
Highest first, each with the preparation that was measured.
| Food as measured | Per 100 g | Level | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shrimp, Sakura, dried | 748.9 mg | Extremely high | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Grilled shrimp | 389 mg | Extremely high | NHC 2024 |
| Prawn (dried) | 349 mg | Extremely high | NHC 2024 |
| Dried shrimp meat | 345 mg | Extremely high | NHC 2024 |
| River shrimp (cooked) | 265 mg | Very high | NHC 2024 |
| Mantis shrimp | 254 mg | Very high | NHC 2024 |
| Shrimp, raw, frozen (no further unspecified) | 234 mg | Very high | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| River shrimp (raw) | 231 mg | Very high | NHC 2024 |
| Shrimp, deep-water | 221.6 mg | Very high | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Dried shrimp | 220 mg | Very high | NHC 2024 |
| Mantis shrimp (cooked) | 200 mg | Very high | NHC 2024 |
| Shrimp (raw) | 187 mg | High | NHC 2024 |
| Shrimp, mixed species, farmed, raw | 182.4 mg | High | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| River shrimp | 180 mg | High | NHC 2024 |
| Shrimp, raw (sand shrimp and Pacific shrimp species) | 177.3 mg | High | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Shrimp (cooked) | 174 mg | High | NHC 2024 |
| Shrimp, raw (unspecified) | 166.5 mg | High | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Fresh prawn | 101.5 mg | Fairly high | NHC 2024 |
Questions about shrimp and purines
Is shrimp high in purines?
Fresh shrimp measures 166–187 mg of purines per 100 g in the USDA and Chinese NHC databases. That is the top band of the Chinese guideline, while the common English three-tier chart and the Japanese guideline both call that range moderate — the schemes disagree, the measurement does not.
Is dried shrimp much higher in purines than fresh shrimp?
Yes, by two to four times. Fresh raw shrimp measures 166–187 mg per 100 g, standard dried shrimp 220 mg, dried shrimp meat 345 mg, and dried sakura shrimp 748.9 mg. Drying removes water and concentrates what remains — the same reason dried anchovy and dried mushrooms sit far above their fresh forms.
Does grilling shrimp change its purine content?
Substantially. The Chinese 2024 guideline records grilled shrimp at 389 mg per 100 g against 174 mg for the same shrimp boiled. Grilling drives off moisture, so the same purines end up in less weight. Boiling tends to move the number the other way, leaching some into water that is then discarded.
Are prawns different from shrimp for purines?
In this database, yes, though less than preparation is. Fresh prawn measures 101.5 mg per 100 g — the lowest of any fresh shrimp here — against 187 mg for the smaller farmed shrimp. In English the two words are used interchangeably, so a chart saying "shrimp" has usually picked one of them and dropped the label.
Is shrimp worse for gout than fish?
Not by measurement alone — fresh shrimp sits below canned tuna's drained figure of 211.8 mg per 100 g and well below sardines or anchovy. Shellfish nonetheless appears on gout dietary guidance more consistently than its purine values alone would predict, so the number is one input among several rather than the whole answer.
Source
- USDA and ODS-NIH Database for the Purine Content of Foods, Release 2.0 (2025) — Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Dietary Guideline for Adults with Hyperuricaemia and Gout (2024 Edition) — National Health Commission of China, appendix 1. Issued February 2024.
Reference information only. Purine values describe foods, not people: they cannot tell you what is safe for you to eat, and nothing here diagnoses or treats gout. Talk to your doctor or dietitian about your own diet and medication.