Purine content of Tuna
across 5 measured preparations · median 211.2 mg · spans fairly high to extremely high
Canned tuna — the form most people actually eat — measures 142 mg per 100 g in the USDA and ODS-NIH database, rising to 211.8 mg once the can is drained of its liquid. Raw tuna measures 157.2 mg. The four-figure end of the tuna family is dried bonito at 492.9 mg, which almost nobody eats as a food and almost everybody eats as a broth.
Avoid or strictly limit — significant gout flare risk.
On this page (6)
Draining the can raises the number by half
Tuna canned in liquid measures 142 mg per 100 g; the drained solids measure 211.8 mg. Nothing was added — the liquid was removed, so the purines that stayed with the fish are now spread across less weight.
This has a practical consequence that most charts miss entirely. If you drain a tin and eat the fish, the drained figure is the one that applies to what is on your plate, but the total purines you consumed are set by how much fish was in the tin, not by which figure you quote. Where draining genuinely helps is when purines have moved into the liquid — which is the same mechanism that makes boiled tofu lower than the soybean it came from.
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 — roughly a third of drained canned tuna, and a direct swap in most dishes.
- Tilapia126 mg
Lower than tuna and widely sold, though still in the fairly-high band.
- Eggsunder 1 mg
The usual protein stand-in for a tuna sandwich or salad.
- Tofu21.9–35.8 mg
Boiled briefly, which leaches purines into water that is discarded.
Why the numbers vary
Bonito flakes are the entry most people never check
Dried bonito — katsuobushi — measures 492.9 mg per 100 g, roughly three and a half times canned tuna. It is a member of the tuna family, it is dried to the point of being shaved into paper-thin flakes, and it is the base of dashi.
That makes it the foundation of a very large amount of Japanese cooking: miso soup, noodle broths, simmered dishes, okonomiyaki toppings, furikake. Someone avoiding tuna steaks while eating miso soup daily is managing the visible form and not the concentrated one.
Portion cuts the other way again, as it usually does. A serving of dashi uses a few grams of flakes, and much of the purine content may stay in flakes that are strained out. But bonito is worth knowing about precisely because it never appears on a menu as tuna.
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. Bonito, dried measures 492.9 mg, while Tuna, canned measures 142 mg — a difference of 3.5 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 tuna measured (5)
Highest first, each with the preparation that was measured.
| Food as measured | Per 100 g | Level | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonito, dried | 492.9 mg | Extremely high | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Tuna, canned, drained solids | 211.8 mg | Very high | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Tuna (Bonito), raw | 211.2 mg | Very high | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Tuna, raw (unspecified) | 157.2 mg | High | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Tuna, canned | 142 mg | Fairly high | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
Questions about tuna and purines
Is canned tuna high in purines?
It depends whose scheme you read: 142 mg per 100 g as canned, or 211.8 mg for the drained solids, in the USDA and ODS-NIH database. That is comparable to fresh shrimp and below chicken breast. Charts quoting figures above 350 mg for tuna do not match any of the four tuna preparations measured in the primary databases.
Are bonito flakes and dashi high in purines?
Dried bonito measures 492.9 mg per 100 g, among the higher values in this database. How much of that reaches a bowl of dashi depends on how many grams of flakes were used and how much stays behind in the strained flakes — a few grams per serving is typical. It is worth knowing about mainly because it is invisible: dashi appears in a great deal of Japanese cooking without tuna ever being named.
Source
- USDA and ODS-NIH Database for the Purine Content of Foods, Release 2.0 (2025) — Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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.