A Secret To Longevity Lies In Your Blood: How Lowering Uric Acid Levels Increases Lifespan

There are over 90,000 centenarians living in the United States, that’s twice as many as there were just twenty years ago and the numbers are projected to continue to climb in the years ahead. Whether you reach this magic milestone might depend upon what your blood reveals about your health.

A new study, the largest of its kind, sought out factors in the blood that can predict longevity. The researchers found the likelihood of reaching 100 rested on the levels of ten factors.

Key Takeaways

• People who live to be 100 tend to have lower levels of glucose, creatinine, and uric acid compared to those who die younger but have higher levels of total cholesterol.
• High uric acid levels are linked to several health problems, including gout, kidney stones, and premature death.
• Monitoring and managing uric acid levels is recommended for maintaining good health and potentially increasing lifespan.

Who Lives to be 100 and Why?

Research on centenarians is usually conducted when they’ve already reached this milestone. But of more interest is whether there were any telltale signs that pointed to them reaching this age when they were much younger.

Previous studies found when centenarians were younger, they had fewer disabilities, co-morbidities, hospitalizations, and better cognitive function when compared to non-centenarians. While better health earlier in life may be an indicator of the future, blood-based biomarkers at a younger age can provide additional and more relevant information to a person’s future health status and longevity.

Since this data is scarce, researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden decided to fill this knowledge gap. Here’s what they found…

Your Gender Matters

The researchers included data from 44,000 Swedes who underwent health assessments between the ages of 64 and 99. Researchers followed them for up to 35 years. Among the participants, 1,224, or 2.7 percent, lived to be 100 years old and of these, a whopping 84.6 percent were women.

Health Biomarkers Can Dictate Your Longevity

Researchers chose six areas of health and twelve specific biomarkers as measures of longevity because they’ve all been linked with aging or mortality in previous studies.

The six areas of health are:

• Metabolism (avoiding metabolic syndrome)
• Inflammation (a risk factor for aging)
• Liver function
• Kidney function (poor kidney function can put you at risk for chronic kidney disease)
• Anemia
• Nutrition

The 12 biomarkers include:

• Total cholesterol (metabolism)
• Blood glucose (metabolism)
• Uric acid (inflammation)
• Alanine aminotransferase (liver function)
• Aspartate aminotransferase (liver function)
• Albumin (liver function)
• Gamma-glutamyl transferase (liver function)
• Alkaline phosphatase (liver function)
• Lactate dehydrogenase (liver function)
• Creatinine (kidney function)
• Iron and total iron-binding capacity (anemia)
• Albumin (nutrition)

After accounting for age, gender, and disease burden, the findings showed that all biomarkers except for albumin and alanine aminotransferase predicted the likelihood of reaching 100.

Important--and Surprising-- Longevity Factors

Those reaching centenarian status tended to have lower levels of glucose, lower levels of creatinine, and lower uric acid levels from their sixties onwards, as well as reduced liver enzymes.

A Key to Long Life – Low Uric Acid Levels

Differences in biomarkers between centenarians and those dying younger were mostly not sizable. However, for uric acid, a waste product created from the digestion of certain foods and a measure of inflammation, the difference was 2.5 percentage points. This means those with the lowest levels of uric acid had more than 2.5 times the chance of reaching the age of 100 when compared to those with the high uric acid levels. That's substantial.

In addition, other research at the Institute for Aging Research led by Nir Barzilai at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine show that many centenarians are genetically predisposed to having low levels of uric acid.

What Is Uric Acid?

Uric acid is a chemical created when the body breaks down substances called purines, which are found in some sugary foods and drinks, as well as liver, anchovies, mackerel, dried beans, and beer. Most uric acid dissolves in the blood and travels to the kidneys, where it's then eliminated in urine. However, if the body produces too much uric acid or does not remove enough of it, it can lead to a variety of health issues.

Why Do Uric Acid Levels Matter?

High levels of uric acid in the body can lead to several health problems. The most common one is gout, a type of arthritis that causes painful inflammation in the joints. High uric acid levels can also result in kidney stones and lead to kidney damage.

The balance of uric acid in the body is therefore crucial for good health. It's influenced by dietary choices, genetic predisposition, overall health, and the body's ability to excrete it efficiently. Managing uric acid levels often involves dietary changes, medication, and ensuring adequate hydration.

“People can be at genetic risk for high uric acid and not know it,” says Pankaj Kapahi, PhD, a professor at the Buck Institute and senior author of research into serum uric acid levels published in the journal PLOS Genetics. “Medical practitioners haven’t been paying sufficient attention to uric acid and perhaps they should.”

High Uric Acid Levels Shorten Lifespan

While humans lost the gene for metabolizing uric acid about 15 million years ago, most species, including insects, kept it. In one study, researchers in Professor Kapahi's lab “humanized” fruit flies by knocking down the gene that metabolizes uric acid. The altered flies built up uric acid in their bodies only when triggered by a diet rich in purines, but showed no dangerous effects under dietary restriction. Now, here's the important part...

Researchers found that a high-purine diet shortened the lifespan of the humanized flies by 48 percent. The team found that an increase free radicals (reactive oxygen species) increased kidney stone formation and premature death in the flies.

Their solution? Antioxidants of course.

One researcher wrote: “We were able to inhibit the increase in free radicals using the common antioxidant vitamin C which reduced the burden of kidney stones and improved survival in the animals."

Uric Acid Therapy for Treatment of Age Related Diseases

Perhaps the most exciting area of research is the investigations into using uric acid therapy-- or increasing uric acid levels-- as a treatment for illness. For example, studies include using uric acid to:

• Improve recovery of stroke patients: Research suggests that increasing serum uric acid levels in the early stages of stroke can patients suffer less damage and have a better recovery.
• Help multiple sclerosis patients: Research suggests that higher serum uric acid levels can improve function in patients with multiple sclerosis.
• Prevent and treat Parkinson's disease: Studies underway show low uric acid levels are associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease and may be useful in its treatment.
• Prevent and treat major depression: Lower uric acid levels are also linked to depression and studies show that increasing uric acid levels could help treat the disease.
• Increases BDNF to support sharper memory: Studies show a positive link between higher uric acid levels and higher brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the brain which can support better brain health and stronger memory.

Monitoring Your Uric Acid Levels

Few people get their level of uric acid measured in their blood. Based on the Buck Institute research, it might be time to rethink that. For one thing, an estimated 20 percent of the population have elevated levels of uric acid, automatically increasing their risk for gout, kidney stones, metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes and premature death.

Professor Kapahi thinks uric acid should be included in routine check-ups similar to those done for cholesterol, blood glucose and systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. “Uric acid levels often go up with age and it’s important for longevity,” he explains. “Gout is also associated with premature mortality in humans.”

But that's not all, the researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found another longevity biomarker that's worth noting...

High Total Cholesterol Contributes to Longevity

They also had higher levels of two biomarkers that were well above clinical guidelines. These were iron and total cholesterol. That’s right, total cholesterol!

The finding for total cholesterol is in line with previous studies we’ve reported on showing a higher level is generally favorable in older age groups when it comes to longevity. In fact, many of the biomarkers for both centenarians and non-centenarians had values outside of the range considered normal in clinical guidelines.

The researchers suggest this is because guidelines are set based on a younger population so it's important to work with your doctor to determine what's healthy for you based on your current health status and family history.

How to Live to 100: Healthy Lifestyle Choices are Essential

The study in Sweden doesn’t highlight what factors lie behind the differences in the blood markers, but the researchers, writing in the journal Geroscience in September, believe genetic and lifestyle factors, such as nutrition, play a role. In fact, senior author Karin Modig wrote that the “differences in the biomarkers suggest a potential link between metabolic health, nutrition, and exceptional longevity.” We couldn’t agree more.

This means that eating a healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean diet, which will keep blood sugar, uric acid, and inflammation levels low is a necessity if you want to avoid metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and reach the age of 100 in good health.

We should add that the researchers didn’t have access to biomarkers related to immunity, which is also considered crucial to a healthy aging process because poor immune health is a risk factor for aging. They also didn’t have lifestyle information such as each participants habits surrounding smoking, alcohol consumption, and poor physical activity level, but we know with certainty from past research that it’s important to address these negative risk factors for aging and illness in your own lifestyle.

For instance, it’s essential to keep inflammation low and metabolic health high by losing weight and maintaining a healthy BMI (body mass index), getting enough good quality sleep, engaging in regular exercise (which is shown to increase uric acid levels), managing stress, not smoking and not overindulging on alcohol.

Meanwhile, Dr. Modig added: “Keeping track of your kidney and liver values, as well as glucose and uric acid as you get older, is probably not a bad idea.”

Summary

High uric acid levels are linked to several health problems, including gout, kidney stones, and premature death. People who live to be 100 tend to have lower levels of glucose, creatinine, and uric acid compared to those who die younger. Monitoring and managing uric acid levels is recommended for maintaining good health and potentially increasing lifespan. Other longevity factors: higher total cholesterol, healthy lifestyle choices (Mediterranean diet, exercise, sleep, stress management).

Frequently Asked Questions

Does uric acid age you?

High uric acid is linked to higher inflammation levels, which is a risk factor for several age-related conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and even cognitive decline. These conditions can contribute to the appearance and feeling of aging. Longevity studies show that people who live to be 100 tend to have lower uric acid levels compared to those who die younger.

What are the benefits of lowering uric acid levels?

Lowering your uric acid levels can offer a variety of benefits for both your immediate and long-term health. Recent studies suggest that people with lower uric acid levels tend to live longer. High uric acid levels are also a primary trigger for gout, a condition causing painful inflammation in joints. Lowering uric acid can significantly reduce the frequency and severity of gout attacks, improving your mobility and comfort. Uric acid crystals can build up and form painful kidney stones. Maintaining healthy uric acid levels can help prevent kidney stones and protect your kidney function. High uric acid is associated with several factors that increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, such as high blood pressure, inflammation, and insulin resistance.

What are the long term effects of high uric acid levels?

High uric acid levels are linked to shorter a life expectancy, the painful inflammatory condition gout, kidney disease, a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and cardiac events such as stroke.