THE ROLE OF DIET AND LIFESTYLE INTERVENTIONS IN HYPERURICEMIA

Introduction: Uric acid in the blood has an upper limit of solubility placed at 7 mg/dL. Urate is freely filtered at the glomerulus, reabsorbed, secreted, and then again reabsorbed in the proximal tubule. Hyperuricemia may occur because of decreased excretion, increased production, or a combination of these two mechanisms. Hyperuricemia is considered the precursor of gout, which is the most common potentially progressive and debilitating form of chronic inflammatory arthritis in adult, especially men. Worldwide, the prevalence of hyperuricemia has increased substantially in recent decades. Methods: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE and PUBMED for meta-analyzes, systematic and classical reviews, clinical guidelines and randomized controlled trials, published since 2000 year, in English, Portuguese and Spanish languages, using the following MeSH terms: “hyperuricemia”, “gout”, “diet”, “risk factors”. Results/Conclusion: Given the recognized association between certain lifestyle risk factors and gout development, lifestyle changes such as losing weight, stopping smoking, drinking more coffee and dairy products, consuming more cherries, and consuming less sugar-sweetened drinks (that contain large amounts of fructose), alcoholic beverages, meat and seafood, were found to be the most commonly recommendations to people with hyperuricemia and gout. It is well known that hyperuricemia is far more common than gout, and that a large majority of people with hyperuricemia do not develop gout. However, the risk of gout increases dramatically with the increasing of serum urate level. Therefore, prevention of gout has the likelihood of decreasing not only the suffering associated with gout, but also reducing associated health care costs.