Uric Acid In Blood: Causes And Troubles

Now-a-days, the individuals, who're health conscious and select regular health check- up, are acquainted with the phrase "uric acid ".But many of them do not know what it is and what kinds of problems it could create within the body if it has excess of the acid.

What's uric acid?

From the nucleic acid of the living cells, by different metabolic processes, two substances called adenine and guanine are produced which are known as purine. A chemical inside our body called xanthine-oxidase converts this purine, in three stages, to uric acid. Chemically, it comprises carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen whose formula is C5H4N4O3. The salt of it is called sodium urate monohydrate. Once the decay of cells occurs at an interest rate greater than the normal rate, then the formation of uric acid in the torso also increases. The most permissible level of it in the blood of a grownup male is 8mg/100ml of blood while that in an adult female is 6mg/100ml of blood. If its level in the blood is a lot more than the above mentioned maximum level, then it is called hyper-uricaemia, that is not really a normal condition. It sometimes appears that generally its level in the blood increases gradually after 20 years and in the case of females this occurs, particularly, after the menopause. The full total content of the acid in the blood may remain within 900mg - 1200mg with regards to the bodyweight, food habit and racial difference. 75% of it inside our blood is excreted, unchanged, through urine, while 20 - 25% of it, changed to some extent, is excreted through the faeces. Uric acid inside our blood is in the form of monosodium urate, which, if increases, gets deposited in the joints and kidneys and causes diseases.

So how exactly does hyper-uricaemia occur?

Hyper-uricaemia may occur due to more than one of these reasons:

1) Increased formation of uric acid due to genetic characteristics or metabolic malfunctioning of enzymes.

2) Chronic kidney disease ultimately causing less excretion of the acid through urine.

3) An excessive amount of intake of meat (lamb, beef) or sea-fishes.

4) Eating of fructose-rich foods. Sugar contains about 50% fructose.

5) Drinking of corn syrup.

6) Diseases causing rapid cell turnover, like polycythaemia, various kinds of leukaemia and a skin disease called psoriasis.

7) Drinking a lot of alcohol, particularly, beer.

8) Daily intake of very low dose of aspirin. A lot of intake of tea or medicine containing caffein.

9) Thiazide like medicines which are used to treat blood pressure and dropsy.

10) Medicines like pyrazinamide and ithambutol which are accustomed to treat tuberculosis.

11) Medicines like livodopa, methyldopa, cysplatin and cyclomerine.

12) When an obese person tries to lose weight quickly, then there occurs a growth in the uric acid level in his/her blood.

13) While doing excessive physical work or exercise, there is an increased formation of lactic acid in the body. In those days, there may be a temporary increased production of uric acid in the blood.

14) Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, insulin-resistant disease syndrome'x'- in each one of these cases the amount of the acid is high.

Problems brought on by high uric acid level in blood

This may cause mainly 2 forms of diseases --

1) Gout

2) Uric acid stone in kidneys

Gout

Gout arthritis is produced by increased uric acid level in the blood due to any disturbance in your body's purine or protein metabolism. Uric acid does not dissolve properly inside our blood. So, any excess of it in the blood gets deposited within our joints in the form of monosodium urate crystals and causes inflammation. Gout is a very painful disease of joints, which mainly occurs to aged persons. Males are 5-7 times more vulnerable to this disease compared to females.

The situation starts when the amount of uric acid in the blood crosses its normal degree of 2-7mg/100ml. It is seen that the painful symptoms of gout arthritis start showing if this level in case of females exceeds 3.5-5mg/100ml and in case of males 5-7mg/100ml. Again, in case of severe gout, the level may be 20mg/100ml or more.

Uric acid stone in kidneys

When the amount of uric acid in the blood is very good, then the surplus amount after saturation, which does not dissolve in blood, starts depositing in the kidneys, since 75% of the acid is excreted from your body through the kidneys. When the reaction of urine is acidic, then your kidneys cannot dispose off the whole of uric acid through urine. Moreover, during summer, when the human body loses lot of water or the individuals, who drink very less quantity of water, for them there's possible of easily developing stone in the kidneys. It's possible to not feel any trouble at the first stage of kidney stone. Even, it cannot be detected by ordinary X-ray or scan considering that the urate stone is radiolucent.  Axit Uric  might be detected by sonography only.