Question

Suppose a bird and a human both have gout. Why might reducing purine in their diets help the human much more than the bird?

Short answer

Reducing purine in the diet consumed by human beings will help in decreasing their chances of developing gout. But purine is not the sole compound causing gout in birds; birds require a diet with a reduced amount of nitrogen-containing compounds.

Step-by-step solution

Bird

The warm-blooded vertebrate that lays eggs and is commonly found in the terrestrial ecosystem is called a bird. Examples of birds include owls, hummingbirds, potoo, penguins, cuckoos, elephant birds, moa, flamingos, gulls, frigate birds, turaco, and kiwis.

The defining birds’ features are four-chambered heart, hard-shelled eggs, developed communication skills, high metabolism, bipedal, wings, lightweight, rigid skeleton, and feathers. The general disease symptoms found in birds are abnormal feathers, weakness, depression, increased sleeping, and inactivity.

Purine

A crystalline compound found in living cells and naturally occurring in some food necessary for regulating cell growth, biological signaling, and providing energy is called purine. The purine structure is incorporated with adenine and guanine containing chemical elements like carbon and nitrogen.

Examples of high-purine include alcoholic beverages, meats (organ meat, turkey, and bacon), dried peas, beans, and seafood (trout, haddock, and mussels). Some purine-related disorders are arthritis, gout, hyperuricemia, and auto-mutilation.

Gout

The purine metabolism disorder that occurs due to the excessive amount of uric acid formed from purine breakdown in the living body is called gout.

When uric acid starts accumulating in the living thing, such as birds, due to damage of their kidney that helps in excreting uric acid, results in the development of gout in birds.

In human beings, when purine breaks down, the degradation will result in the formation and accumulation of uric acid. Hence, human beings taking a diet poor in purine will not develop gout.

In contrast, protein metabolism produces uric acid in birds; birds require a diet with low nitrogen content, not just purine to not develop gout.