[PHNUTR-L] Metabolic syndrome heightens risk for development of uric-acid kidney stones

[Kathrynne Holden]

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Metabolic syndrome heightens risk for development of uric-acid kidney stones

Media Contact: Connie Piloto
214-648-3404
connie.piloto at utsouthwestern.edu

DALLAS – Sept. 13, 2007 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center 
have found that patients suffering from the metabolic syndrome – a 
cluster of conditions that increases the risk for heart disease, stroke 
and diabetes – also have a propensity to develop highly acidic urine, 
which increases the risk of developing kidney stones.

The first study, to demonstrate this relationship independent of age and 
renal function, appears in the September issue of the Clinical Journal 
of the American Society of Nephrology.

The metabolic syndrome is characterized by a group of risk factors that 
include obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. The 
American Heart Association estimates that more than 50 million Americans 
suffer from the syndrome.

“Our findings suggest that the presence of an increasing number of 
metabolic syndrome features augments the propensity for uric-acid stone 
formation,” said Dr. Naim Maalouf, assistant professor of internal 
medicine and the study’s lead author.

In previous studies, UT Southwestern researchers have found that people 
who were overweight or suffered from diabetes had highly acidic urine, 
which often leads to the development of uric-acid kidney stones.

The current findings indicate that people with the other components 
leading to the metabolic syndrome also have highly acidic urine.

“The association of highly acidic urine with elevated levels of systolic 
blood pressure, serum glucose, triglycerides and lower levels of 
high-density lipoprotein cholesterol – all features of the metabolic 
syndrome – has not been previously reported,” Dr. Maalouf said.

In the study, researchers recorded the height, weight and blood pressure 
of 148 participants who had never developed kidney stones. They also 
gathered blood and urine samples and tested the blood for features of 
the metabolic syndrome.

  They found that participants with the metabolic syndrome had highly 
acidic urine, compared to participants without the syndrome, and the 
correlation was independent of factors already known to influence urine 
acidity such as age, gender and body weight.

  “This is the first time it has been shown that acidic urine, a major 
cause of uric-acid stone disease, is a part of the metabolic syndrome,” 
said Dr. Khashayar Sakhaee, chief of mineral metabolism at UT 
Southwestern and senior author of the study. “We also found that the 
relationship is not driven by body mass alone.”

Uric-acid stones are more difficult to diagnose than other types of 
kidney stones because they don’t show up on regular abdominal X-rays, 
often delaying the diagnosis and leading to the continued growth of a stone.

Other UT Southwestern researchers contributing to the study were Dr. 
Orson Moe, director of the Charles and Jane Pak Center for Mineral 
Metabolism and Clinical Research, and Beverley Adams-Huet, assistant 
professor of clinical sciences.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the 
National Kidney Foundation.

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This news release is available on our World Wide Web home page at

http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/home/news/index.html
-- 
Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar at nutritionucanlivewith.com >
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