Pork vs Lamb & mutton: which has more purines?
Lamb & mutton is the higher of the two — 118.3 mg per 100 g against 116.4 mg for Pork — but both count as fairly high on this scale. The 1.9 mg between them is smaller than the 293.5 mg spread between preparations of one of them, so the choice matters less than how it is cooked.
116.4mg per 100 g
Fairly high · 75–150 mg
A 150 g serving works out to 175 mg. Across 20 measured preparations, 40–333.5 mg.
118.3mg per 100 g
Fairly high · 75–150 mg
A 150 g serving works out to 177 mg. Across 4 measured preparations, 35–223 mg.
Pork vs Lamb & mutton purine content, per serving
Per 100 g is how the databases publish, and it is not how anyone eats. At the default servings above, Pork contributes 175 mg and Lamb & mutton contributes 177 mg. The gap between two foods matters much less than how much of either one ends up on the plate — which is the argument for weighing the portion rather than memorising a chart.
It is also why the single number at the top of a purine chart misleads. Lamb & mutton at 118.3 mg per 100 g and Pork at 116.4 mg swap places the moment one portion is half the size of the other, and portions of pork and lamb & mutton are rarely the same weight in practice.
Why the two numbers differ
Less than the charts imply. Lamb & mutton and Pork land in the same band on the scale this site uses. The 1.9 mg between them is smaller than the 293.5 mg spread between the measured preparations of one of them — so how it is cooked decides more than which one you pick. Treating one as the safe option and the other as the risky one is reading more into the data than it supports.
Every measurement behind the two pork and lamb & mutton figures
The headline numbers are medians across the preparations each database measured, and the spread underneath them is the part most charts hide. Here are the highest and lowest measured preparations of each, with the database that produced them.
Pork — 20 measurements, 40–333.5 mg per 100 g
| Food as measured | Per 100 g | Level | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pork loin, boneless, skinless, cooked | 333.5 mg | Extremely high | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Pork lung | 272 mg | Very high | NHC 2024 |
| Pork loin, tenderloin, boneless, raw | 244 mg | Very high | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Dumpling (pork & celery) | 56 mg | Fairly low | NHC 2024 |
| Dumpling (pork & shiitake) | 42 mg | Fairly low | NHC 2024 |
| Pork blood | 40 mg | Fairly low | NHC 2024 |
Showing 6 of 20. All 20 measurements of pork.
Lamb & mutton — 4 measurements, 35–223 mg per 100 g
| Food as measured | Per 100 g | Level | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamb skewer (cooked) | 223 mg | Very high | NHC 2024 |
| Lamb chops and roast, raw | 127.5 mg | Fairly high | ODS-NIH 2.0 |
| Lamb | 109 mg | Fairly high | NHC 2024 |
| Bun (lamb & radish) | 35 mg | Fairly low | NHC 2024 |
Why other charts rank pork and lamb & mutton differently
Because the band lines move between countries. The same milligram figure is called different things depending on whose scheme you read, which is most of the reason two purine charts can disagree about a food without either being wrong. Here is what each published scheme calls these two:
Pork, 116.4 mg
| Scheme | This food is | Band covers |
|---|---|---|
| NHC dietary guidelineChina | Fairly high | 75–150 mg |
| Common three-tier chartEnglish-language | Moderate | 50–150 mg |
| Gout treatment guidelineJapan | Unnamed in the guideline | 100–200 mg |
- NHC dietary guideline — Dietary Guideline for Adults with Hyperuricaemia and Gout (2024 Edition), National Health Commission of China
- Common three-tier chart — The split used across English-language dietetic handouts and purine charts A widely repeated convention rather than a scheme published by one named body.
- Gout treatment guideline — Guideline for the Management of Hyperuricaemia and Gout, Japanese Society of Gout and Uric & Nucleic Acids, as published by the Gout and Uric Acid Foundation of Japan The guideline names four bands and leaves 100–200 mg unnamed; Japanese charts commonly fill that gap with an informal 'moderate'.
Lamb & mutton, 118.3 mg
| Scheme | This food is | Band covers |
|---|---|---|
| NHC dietary guidelineChina | Fairly high | 75–150 mg |
| Common three-tier chartEnglish-language | Moderate | 50–150 mg |
| Gout treatment guidelineJapan | Unnamed in the guideline | 100–200 mg |
- NHC dietary guideline — Dietary Guideline for Adults with Hyperuricaemia and Gout (2024 Edition), National Health Commission of China
- Common three-tier chart — The split used across English-language dietetic handouts and purine charts A widely repeated convention rather than a scheme published by one named body.
- Gout treatment guideline — Guideline for the Management of Hyperuricaemia and Gout, Japanese Society of Gout and Uric & Nucleic Acids, as published by the Gout and Uric Acid Foundation of Japan The guideline names four bands and leaves 100–200 mg unnamed; Japanese charts commonly fill that gap with an informal 'moderate'.
Lower-purine alternatives to Lamb & mutton
If the reason for the comparison is to bring a meal down rather than to settle which of two foods wins, these measure lower than both and sit in the same part of the shop:
A purine number is not a risk score
Worth saying on any page that ranks two foods against each other. Beer measures low and is the drink most consistently linked with gout attacks, because alcohol slows how quickly the kidneys clear urate. Sugary soft drinks contain essentially no purines and are associated with substantially higher risk, because fructose prompts the body to manufacture uric acid after the drink.
So this comparison answers exactly what it says: which of these two foods delivers more purines per 100 g. More on the gap between the number and the risk.
Where these values come from
- USDA and ODS-NIH Database for the Purine Content of Foods, Release 2.0 (2025)
- Dietary Guideline for Adults with Hyperuricaemia and Gout (2024 Edition)
Every preparation measured for each food, with its own citation, is on the two food pages: Pork and Lamb & mutton. You can also compare any two of the 372 foods or add up a whole day.
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.
Common questions
Which has more purines, pork or lamb & mutton?
Lamb & mutton is the higher of the two — 118.3 mg per 100 g against 116.4 mg for Pork — but both count as fairly high on this scale. The 1.9 mg between them is smaller than the 293.5 mg spread between preparations of one of them, so the choice matters less than how it is cooked.
Is pork a safe swap for lamb & mutton with gout?
Not really — they sit in the same band, so swapping one for the other changes the purine total very little. If the aim is a lower-purine meal, the useful move is a bigger step down the scale rather than a sideways one, and portion size will change the number more than this substitution does.
Do these numbers change with cooking?
Substantially. Boiling moves purines into water that is then poured away, while grilling and drying remove water and concentrate what is left. Both foods here list every preparation measured, with the source for each — the range within one food is often wider than the gap between the two.