If you don’t keep your uric acid levels under control, not only are you gambling with a painful gout attack, you’re also gambling with diabetes and diabetic kidney disease…
High Uric Acid Increases Your Risk of Diabetes and Diabetic Kidney Disease
A recent Chinese study has identified a link between high uric acid levels in the blood and an increased risk of diabetic kidney disease.
In the study, headed up by Dandan Yan, MD, and Yinfang Tu, MD, of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, researchers discovered that the prevalence of diabetic kidney disease was significantly higher in patients with hyperuricemia (68.3%) than in those with normal uric acid levels (41.5%). They also discovered that the increased risk was more pronounced in males than females.
This follows on the heels of, and backs-up, previous studies that have linked high uric acid levels to both higher risks of new-onset diabetes and diabetic kidney disease. This included an in-depth study (presented at the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting) of the records of about 2,000 men with gout in a U.S. Veterans’ Administration database, none of whom had diabetes or kidney disease at the start of the study.
Given these studies, the evidence for the link between uric acid, diabetes and diabetic kidney disease is indisputable.
So, if you’ve got gout, you are at a much higher risk of both diabetes and diabetic kidney disease and the only way to mitigate that risk is to keep your uric acid levels under control which, by common consent, is under 7 mg/dL, preferably under 6.
The problem for gout sufferers is that many of us can be free from gout flares for long periods of time, but still have high uric acid levels in the blood. And, since we aren’t suffering any attacks, there’s no real pressure on us to monitor our uric acid levels. The result is that we could be setting ourselves up for serious diseases like diabetes, chronic kidney disease and even heart disease (which other studies have highlighted).
So, as a gout sufferer, it’s important to check your uric acid levels regularly.
Now, please take a few moments to listen to the excellent Dr. Edwards on the link between uric acid, gout, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and heart disease, and why it’s very important to know if your uric acid level is elevated.
