Purines describe a group of chemicals made up of two fused rings - one containing four atoms of carbon and two atoms of nitrogen (a "pyrimidine") and the other containing three atoms of carbon and two of nitrogen (a "imidazole"). To this base are added other atoms or groups of atoms.
The purines adenine and guanine are part of the building blocks of DNA.
Meat is rich in purines and vegetables are generally poor in purines. The human body is capable of metabolizing most purine molecules.
A diet too high in purines can lead to gout.