Rice vs Tofu: which has more purines?

Tofu is the higher of the two — 68 mg per 100 g against 34 mg for Rice — but both count as fairly low on this scale. The 34 mg between them is smaller than the 270.4 mg spread between preparations of one of them, so the choice matters less than how it is cooked.

Rice

34mg per 100 g

Fairly low · 30–75 mg

A 150 g serving works out to 51 mg. Across 16 measured preparations, 3–100.2 mg.

Tofu

68mg per 100 g

Fairly low · 30–75 mg

A 150 g serving works out to 102 mg. Across 9 measured preparations, 21.9–292.3 mg.

Rice vs Tofu purine content, per serving

Per 100 g is how the databases publish, and it is not how anyone eats. At the default servings above, Rice contributes 51 mg and Tofu contributes 102 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. Tofu at 68 mg per 100 g and Rice at 34 mg swap places the moment one portion is half the size of the other, and portions of rice and tofu are rarely the same weight in practice.

Why the two numbers differ

Less than the charts imply. Tofu and Rice land in the same band on the scale this site uses. The 34 mg between them is smaller than the 270.4 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 rice and tofu 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.

Rice — 16 measurements, 3–100.2 mg per 100 g

Food as measured	Per 100 g	Level	Source
Rice bran	100.2 mg	Fairly high	ODS-NIH 2.0
Rice crust	73 mg	Fairly low	NHC 2024
Black rice	63 mg	Fairly low	NHC 2024
Rice malt, salted	13.9 mg	Low	ODS-NIH 2.0
Rice, white, cooked	5.9 mg	Low	ODS-NIH 2.0
Rice vinegar (3.5%)	3 mg	Low	NHC 2024

Showing 6 of 16. All 16 measurements of rice.

Tofu — 9 measurements, 21.9–292.3 mg per 100 g

Food as measured	Per 100 g	Level	Source
Tofu, dried-frozen (koyadofu)	292.3 mg	Very high	ODS-NIH 2.0
Tofu burger	102.6 mg	Fairly high	ODS-NIH 2.0
Tofu (nigari)	100 mg	Fairly high	NHC 2024
Tofu, boiled 5 minutes	35.8 mg	Fairly low	ODS-NIH 2.0
Tofu, raw (nigari)	31.1 mg	Fairly low	ODS-NIH 2.0
Tofu, boiled 3 minutes	21.9 mg	Low	ODS-NIH 2.0

Showing 6 of 9. All 9 measurements of tofu.

Why other charts rank rice and tofu 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:

Rice, 34 mg

How 34 mg per 100 g is classified by three published schemes
Scheme	This food is	Band covers
NHC dietary guidelineChina	Fairly low	30–75 mg
Common three-tier chartEnglish-language	Low	0–50 mg
Gout treatment guidelineJapan	Extremely low	0–50 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'.

Tofu, 68 mg

How 68 mg per 100 g is classified by three published schemes
Scheme	This food is	Band covers
NHC dietary guidelineChina	Fairly low	30–75 mg
Common three-tier chartEnglish-language	Moderate	50–150 mg
Gout treatment guidelineJapan	Low	50–100 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'.

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

Every preparation measured for each food, with its own citation, is on the two food pages: Rice and Tofu. 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, rice or tofu?

Is rice a safe swap for tofu 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.