WE USEDto think that high uric acid levels in the bloodstream pinpointed only towards inflammatory conditions particularly of the joints (gout). Recent development in clinical research uncovered a very clear effect of hyperuricemia in developing Type-2 diabetes mellitus.
A team of 12 Chinese researchers, mostly from the Department of Nephrology at the Union Hospital in Wuhan, China, conducted a meta-analysis of existing literature in the association between blood uric acid and Type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is an adult-onset diabetes resulting primarily from the development of insulin resistance or relative insulin-deficiency which results to persistently increased level of sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream. The body can still manufacture insulin but resistance to it has developed so that the body still cannot breakdown free glucose. Overall all, it makes up around 90 percent of cases of diabetes.
Long-term complications include heart diseases, diabetic retinopathy, stroke, kidney failure, and poor circulation in the limbs (which can lead to amputa tion).
Hyperuricemia is abnormally high levels of uric acid in blood of at least 6 mg/dL for women and 6.8 mg/dL for men.
Four studies published in 2011 (Endocrine), 2010 (American Journal of Medicine), 2008 (Clinical Chemistry and Diabetes Care) and 2001 (Journal of Hypertension) have agreed every incremental increase of one milligram uric acid per deciliter of blood had been significantly associated with a six percent increase in the risk of Type 2 diabetes; that is in a strong cause-and-effect association. This had been particularly true among middle-aged (below age 50) and older (about or older than age 50) people.
Interestingly, these findings are truer among Western countries than in Asian countries.
While the mechanism of this association is not yet clearly understood, scientists believe that hyperuricemia can induce malfunctioning of the human cells and reduce the production of niric oxide, a compound that can reduce insulin-stimulated glucose intake in the muscle. This reduced intake contributed to insulin resistance and eventually diabetes.
Hyperuricemia also had been a factor in oxidative stress, a condition that pays a role in the development of Type 2 diabetes.
Apparently there had been no significant difference between genders in terms of susceptibility to pathological increases of uric acid in the bloodstream.
Perhaps the famous love doctor, Leo Buscaglia, prescription make sense and prove effective: “Everybody needs a hug. It changes your metabolism.”