Hacker News Reader

Comment by meindnoch | Hacker News Reader

Causes gout.

> Some types of seafood — such as anchovies, shellfish, sardines and tuna — are higher in purines than are other types. But the overall health benefits of eating fish may outweigh the risks for people with gout. Moderate portions of fish can be part of a gout diet.

Literally first thing when googling. You would have to eat humongous amounts of this very salty tiny fish to see any long term effect. The salt itself would probably kill you earlier.

The problem is that anchovies are so delicious that's easy to eat tons of them in one sitting. Pair that with a lot of beer and that could pave the way to gout town.

Still the problem lies elsewhere, and will manifest itself much earlier than gout you are seemingly so concerned about

They're mostly cured with salt, but I expect the fish themselves aren't particularly salty (at least the (delcious!) Spanish marinated ones aren't salty)

The fish fried is delicious, oily, full of protein and a little salty. Salt is added routinely to the dish.

Anchovies in Spanish mean normally only the canned, very salty, thing. If you want to buy the fresh fish, there is a different word for it. The third option to consume it is marinated on vinegar, that also uses the fish name (plus "on vinegar").

Boquerones en vinagre. Delicious cold on some bread.

I've had fresh ones grilled in Greece couple of times and they were very salty (not typical can-level but still a ton). It could be possible they add salt that much just for this fish and every other fish they prepare with normal amount of salt, but I find it unlikely.

In the realm of what you can eat if you're eating anchovies you're likely eating healthier than 90% of the populace anyway.

No ones getting gout from anchovies without having some other extremely decadent diet choices paired with it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com