Octopus contains about 137 mg of purines per 100 grams, placing it in the moderate range. It’s not among the highest-purine seafoods, but it’s far from low, so portion size matters if you’re managing gout or elevated uric acid levels.
Where Octopus Falls on the Purine Scale
Foods are generally grouped into three purine categories: low (under 100 mg per 100 g), moderate (100 to 200 mg), and high (200 mg and above). At 137.3 mg per 100 g, octopus sits solidly in the moderate zone. That means it delivers a meaningful dose of purines, the compounds your body breaks down into uric acid, but considerably less than high-purine foods like organ meats or certain shellfish.
The USDA’s 2025 purine database breaks octopus down further into its individual purine bases per 100 g of raw flesh: about 21.6 mg of adenine, 18.1 mg of guanine, 36.7 mg of hypoxanthine, and 60.8 mg of xanthine. Of these, hypoxanthine and xanthine make up the bulk. This matters because different purine types convert to uric acid at different rates, but in practical terms, the total load is what most people need to watch.
How Octopus Compares to Other Seafood
Octopus is actually on the lower end among popular seafood options. Here’s how it stacks up against other shellfish and mollusks, all measured in mg of purines per 100 g:
- Mussels: 292.5 (high)
- Tiger prawn: 192.3
- Pacific flying squid: 186.8
- Oyster: 184.5
- Spear squid: 160.5
- Clam: 145.5
- Shrimp: 144.2
- Octopus: 137.3
- Snow crab: 136.4
Octopus and snow crab come in at nearly identical levels, making them among the more moderate choices in the shellfish category. Mussels, by contrast, contain more than double the purines of octopus and cross into the high-purine category. Sardines, tuna, and scallops are also commonly flagged as high-purine seafood in clinical guidelines.
What This Means for Gout
The American College of Rheumatology conditionally recommends limiting purine intake for people diagnosed with gout, though the organization notes the evidence behind strict purine-restricted diets is not strong. The emphasis in current guidelines falls more heavily on avoiding the worst offenders (organ meats, certain fish like sardines, and alcohol) rather than eliminating every moderate-purine food.
Octopus isn’t specifically called out in most gout guidelines the way sardines, tuna, and scallops are. That said, a 3-ounce (85 g) serving of octopus still delivers roughly 117 mg of purines, which adds up quickly if you’re eating other purine-containing foods the same day. During an acute gout flare, guidelines recommend limiting all animal foods except eggs and low-fat dairy, so octopus would be off the table temporarily.
Between flares, moderate portions of octopus are generally reasonable as long as you’re not pairing it with other moderate or high-purine foods in the same meal. Keeping your total daily purine intake in check matters more than avoiding any single food.
Nutritional Benefits Worth Considering
Octopus packs an impressive nutritional profile that can make it worth including in your diet, purine concerns aside. A 3-ounce cooked serving delivers 25 grams of protein for only 139 calories and 2 grams of fat. It’s one of the leanest protein sources available.
The micronutrient content is where octopus really stands out. That same serving provides over 1,200% of the daily value for vitamin B12, 139% for selenium, 70% for copper, 45% for iron, and 26% for zinc. It also contains omega-3 fatty acids, which help reduce inflammation. One analysis of antidepressant nutrients in foods ranked octopus sixth overall for its concentration of 12 nutrients linked to mental health, including B12, selenium, iron, zinc, and omega-3s.
For someone managing uric acid levels, the anti-inflammatory properties of omega-3s and the overall nutrient density of octopus create a more nuanced picture than the purine number alone suggests. A small serving of octopus offers far more nutritional return than many other protein sources with similar purine levels.
Keeping Portions in Check
The simplest approach is portion control. A standard 3-ounce serving of octopus keeps you well under 150 mg of purines from that food alone. If you’re eating octopus as part of a sushi platter, tapas spread, or mixed seafood dish, the actual amount of octopus you consume is often relatively small, which limits the purine load naturally.
Boiling is one of the most common ways to prepare octopus, and cooking in water does leach some purines out of meat and seafood in general. The purines dissolve into the cooking liquid, so discarding the water rather than using it as a broth helps reduce the amount you actually consume. Grilling or roasting won’t have this same effect since there’s no liquid to absorb the purines.
Balancing your overall meal also helps. Pairing octopus with low-purine sides like vegetables, eggs, rice, or dairy-based sauces keeps the total purine content of the meal manageable. The problems tend to start when you combine multiple moderate-purine proteins in one sitting, like octopus alongside shrimp and squid in a seafood platter.