Contents
- 1 Causes of uric acid or hyperuricemia
- 1.1 CAUSES OF HIGH URIC ACID LEVEL
- 1.2 Why do we have high uric acid levels?
- 1.3 People with a genetic tendency to have high uric acid
- 1.4 Secondary causes of uric acid
- 1.5 Diet that increases uric acid
- 1.6 Can hyperuricemia be cured with diet?
- 1.7 Sugar and hyperuricemia
- 1.8 Diet for hyperuricemia
- 1.9 Alcohol consumption and hyperuricemia
Causes of uric acid or hyperuricemia
CAUSES OF HIGH URIC ACID LEVEL
Why do we have high uric acid levels?
The causes of high uric acid levels can be:
Cold cuts are doubly discouraged: Due to their high salt and purine content, they cannot be consumed when there are high uric acid levels Primary causes: They are mainly due to hereditary factors, alterations in metabolism that produce the accumulation of uric acid in the body.
- Secondary causes: They may be due to an inadequate diet (rich in foods with a high purine content, salt, alcohol, etc.), or they may be associated with the appearance of some disease, or the taking of medications that prevent the elimination of the uric acid.
People with a genetic tendency to have high uric acid
When uric acid is high in a person who has a correct diet, without diseases or other factors that can lead to this hyperuricemia, it is usually due to a genetic or hereditary factor. These people generally have a family history of gouty arthritis or gout problems.
Heredity factor is a primary cause of high uric acid. It occurs because it increases the endogenous production (by the body itself) of uric acid, due to some alteration in the metabolism of uric acid or in the metabolism of purines.
It should be taken into account that the regeneration of the muscular tissues themselves generates small amounts of uric acid. In cases where there is an increase in the this regeneration, such as psoriasis, some types of cancer or other diseases, these levels can also increase.
Secondary causes of uric acid
Diet that increases uric acid
The type of diet influences high uric acid levels. Generally, diet is not usually the only cause of uric acid, but it is a factor that is important in the control and evolution of this disease:
- Foods very rich in purines (mainly meat, organ meats, fish, sausages, hamburgers) cause an increase in uric acid levels.
- In addition, consuming a lot of salt results in a low diuretic diet that does not favor the elimination of these substances.
- Inadequate diet in general, a combination of the two previous cases: For example, during festive or Christmas times, when this type of dietary excesses abound, gout attacks frequently occur.
Can hyperuricemia be cured with diet?
Genetics is the primary causative factor of hyperuricemia, but one of the most common causes of the excessive increase in uric acid, or that usually aggravates pre-existing hyperuricemia, is excessive consumption in the intake of foods rich in purines, from the nucleic acids present in organ meats (pâtés…), meat, seafood, fish broth or meat broth, fish (especially oily fish such as salmon, sardines, tuna…), etc.
If the usual diet is abundant in these foods, eliminating them from the diet will significantly reduce hyperuricemia and inflammation in the joints.
Sugar and hyperuricemia
Other dietary causes that are sometimes not related to this increase, but that also have their potentiating action, is eating many foods rich in sugar, that is, junk food: sweets, refined sugar, sugary soft drinks, industrial fruit juices, chocolates or pastries.
An intake of foods very rich in fructose and/or sucrose, can increase uric acid levels by de novo synthesis metabolism, starting from ribose-5-phosphate. Removing these foods from the diet can only bring benefits.
Diet for hyperuricemia
A proper diet, rich in alkalizing foods, diuretics, low salt, and foods low in purines, improves uric acid levels and can help to significantly improve the frequency and intensity of gout attacks.
Fasting or not eating for many hours can also further increase uric acid levels in people with high-level problems.
Alcohol consumption and hyperuricemia
Alcohol consumption also increases uric acid levels even more in people with a tendency to this problem. The intake of alcoholic beverages varies the hepatic metabolism of uric acid, that is, it slows the transformation of alcohol causing it to accumulate in the body and increase its levels.
To finish with the dietary aspect, it should be noted that an unbalanced diet, rich in animal meat and ultra-processed, can negatively affect the intestinal flora, causing a decrease in healthy bacteria in the intestine.
Although the main route of elimination of uric acid in the body is the urine, the intestinal microbiota also influences part of the metabolism of purines. A weakened intestinal flora will not exert its uric acid elimination action as it should. A diet rich in vegetables and legumes, as well as eating foods with probiotics such as yogurts, will help improve intestinal balance.
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