Understanding What Your Uric Acid Level Says About Your Heart Health- Dr Mangesh Tiwaskar
Your heart will beat an average of 2.5 billion times in your lifetime, pushing blood across your body, vital for everyday functioning. This makes the heart the most over-worked organ of your body, critical for life.
However, it is also the most neglected organ, making it essential for healthcare professionals to remind you about heart health constantly. Though your heart health is affected as you grow older, your lifestyle choices also impact your heart, causing some form of cardiovascular disease.
While hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and type 2 diabetes are clear risk markers for cardiovascular disease, high uric acid levels are often overlooked. Emerging research delves into the correlation between uric acid and heart health, generating interest among researchers and healthcare practitioners alike.
This complex relationship examines how managing uric acid levels impacts the cardiovascular system, affects heart health management, and its pivotal role in assessing and addressing cardiovascular risk and care.
Uric acid is a waste product in your blood produced when your body breaks down a chemical compound called purines. A certain level of uric acid in the body is normal and is periodically expelled from the body. However, if the uric acid levels drop or rise from the normal levels, it is an indication of health issues.
While low uric acid levels indicate too much acid is passed from the body as waste, high levels indicate that kidneys fail to effectively filter and remove excess uric acid from the bloodstream, causing hyperuricemia. Primarily, high uric acid levels go unnoticed. However, it's time to think critically and understand the disease leading to heart complications.
Several conditions link high uric acid levels with heart health, leading to complications if not addressed. Here is what you should look out for:
- Inflammation: Elevated uric acid levels lead to inflammation throughout the body, including the heart and blood vessels, advancing atherosclerosis, a condition classified as the buildup of fats, cholesterol, and other substances in and on the artery walls. This inflammation affects blood vessel flexibility, reducing blood flow and increasing blood pressure, thereby affecting heart health.
- Insulin Resistance: High uric acid levels alter the nitric oxide level in the blood through an oxidative reaction that reduces insulin uptake, affecting blood glucose levels. The body becomes less responsive to insulin when the blood glucose levels rise. This irresponsive reaction is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, directly increasing the risk of heart disease.
- Oxidative Stress: Increased uric acid levels cause oxidative stress, an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in the body. Oxidative stress induces the production of reactive oxygen species, causing an increase in inflammatory state and insulin sensitivity, thereby damaging cells and tissues. All these changes negatively impact the cardiovascular system, leading to heart complications.
- Sodium Retention: Increased uric acid levels may lead to increased sodium retention, where the body holds excess sodium and water due to a sodium-heavy diet, kidney dysfunction, or other factors. Excess sodium can raise blood volume and blood pressure levels, increasing the risk of hypertension, a significant risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
Although many people develop some form of cardiovascular disease as they age, it isn't inevitable, as healthy lifestyle choices and preventive healthcare work Together for a Healthy Heart to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
Thus, the diagnosis and management of uric acid levels become highly crucial. Today, on World Heart Day, let's ThinkUric, understand the condition, take corrective measures, and avert complications to live a happy and healthy life.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are of the author and not of Medical Dialogues. The Editorial/Content team of Medical Dialogues has not contributed to the writing/editing/packaging of this article.
