Uric Acid In Blood: Causes And Troubles

Now-a-days, those individuals, who are health conscious and go for regular health check- up, are acquainted with the word "uric acid ".But most of them do not understand what it actually is and what forms of problems it may create in the body if it has excess of the acid.

What is 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 in our body called xanthine-oxidase converts this purine, in three stages, to uric acid. Chemically, it is composed of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen whose formula is C5H4N4O3. The salt of it is recognized as sodium urate monohydrate. When the decay of cells occurs at an interest rate greater compared to normal rate, then the synthesis of uric acid within the body also increases. The utmost 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 named hyper-uricaemia, that will be not a normal condition.  Axit Uric  is observed that generally its level in the blood increases gradually after 20 years old and in case of females this occurs, particularly, after the menopause. The total content of the acid in the blood may remain within 900mg - 1200mg depending on 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.

How can hyper-uricaemia occur?

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

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

2) Chronic kidney disease leading to 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 too much alcohol, particularly, beer.

8) Daily intake of suprisingly low dose of aspirin. Too much intake of tea or medicine containing caffein.

9) Thiazide like medicines which are accustomed 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 rise 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 every 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 developed by increased uric acid level in the blood due to any disturbance in your body's purine or protein metabolism. Uric acid doesn't dissolve properly inside our blood. So, any excess of it in the blood gets deposited in our joints in the shape 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 the females.

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

Uric acid stone in kidneys

When the amount of uric acid in the blood is very high, then the surplus amount after saturation, which doesn't dissolve in blood, starts depositing in the kidneys, since 75% of the acid is excreted from the body through the kidneys. When the reaction of urine is acidic, then your kidneys cannot dispose off the complete of uric acid through urine. Moreover, during summer, when the human body loses lot of water or those individuals, who drink very less quantity of water, for them there is a chance of easily developing stone in the kidneys. One may not feel any trouble at the initial stage of kidney stone. Even, it can't be detected by ordinary X-ray or scan because the urate stone is radiolucent. It could be detected by sonography only.