Relationships between serum uric acid and lipids in healthy subjects

Raised serum uric acid (SUA) levels are associated with conditions at high risk for coronary heart disease. SUA levels can be partly modified by the diet, but little is known about the association of SUA with several dietary factors, particularly the quality of ingested lipids.

The associations between SUA levels and biological and dietary factors were investigated in a sample of 90 healthy subjects (45 males and 45 females; ages 55.6 +/- 18 years) living in Nove, a village near Vicenza (Veneto Region, northern Italy). A careful selection of subjects to exclude those with chronic or acute disease (influencing SUA directly or indirectly through their pharmacological treatments) was obtained with the collaboration of three general practitioners operating in Nove.

SUA was higher among men than among women and higher among postmenopausal women than among women of child-bearing age (P < 0.01). Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis of the population as a whole showed that serum triglycerides and total RBC omega-6 PUFA were significant and independent predictors of a consistent proportion of serum uric acid variability (R = 0.59; R2 = 0.332; P < 0.001). Taking men and postmenopausal women together, the result was the same.

Triglycerides and SUA are related even in the normal population and not only in "Syndrome X." Dietary enrichment with omega-6 PUFA might be useful for the negative modulation of SUA.