Uric Acid in Blood Test Results

[AnotherConcernedCitizen]

Hi everyone,

First time poster here, I'm hoping someone will be able to give me some good information about this.  I just got back from seeing the doctor and I had him do some blood work on me.  He said everything in my blood work looked good except for my Uric Acid.  He said it was quite high and was something that needed to be looked at.

I'll be honest and say I have no idea what a high Uric Acid does or means besides gout.  I'm not even sure what gout is besides something my brother talks about when we talk about food. I'm not overweight, I exercise regularly, but I do love my red meat and like to have a couple of beers on the weekends.

Is this something to be concerned about? When i took the test yesterday, I had just finished a steak and some spinach and tomatoes 2 hours before.  Could that have affected the test results?

Thanks guys, if someone could give me some information on what this means for me, I'd appreciate it.  I'm honestly a bit worried right now.

[Ger57]

Normally, you do not eat for at least 4 hours before testing. Normal values for uric acid are  between 3.5 and 7.2 mg/dL. Of course there can be some variations due to your diet and yes, exercise can increase uric acid levels as well. You speak however of quite high values. I dont know how high, but if it is way above 7.2 I doubt if you can blame that all on food choice and exercise.
Perhaps you can opt for a second test, see what comes out, before taking other steps.

[AnotherConcernedCitizen]

Hi Ger57,

Thanks for the reply.  Do you think my reading of Uric Acid could've been affected by me not fasting before they took my blood?

Also, I've been on this diet to cut down a good amount of weight for an athletic competition.  I've lost weight quite rapidly and I've read that that might affect my uric acid.  Do you know if there's any truth to that?

Thank you for your response!

[Ger57]

Yes, it needs to be looked at.

Uric acid is produced from the natural breakdown of your body's cells and from the foods you eat.

A high level of uric acid in the blood can be caused when your body either produces too much uric acid or your kidneys don't eliminate uric acid rapidly enough.

A high uric acid level may cause increasingly frequent attacks of gout, or it may never cause problems. A high uric acid level may also cause some people to develop kidney stones or kidney failure.

Many drugs can increase or decrease the level of uric acid. In particular, diuretic drugs like thiazide drugs can cause uric acid levels to go up, but also aspirin can have effects.