What is uric acid?
DNA and RNA jointly make amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Proteins area building block of tissue and organs! Purines are nitrogenuos base of DNA. Hence purines ( Adenine and Guanine) are the building blocks of DNA.
In our human body, Purines are constantly degraded and recycled. Purine metabolism is carried out by liver and during this process by product is created and it is called as uric acid.
Purine can be found in plant as well.
- Purine which is produced in the body called as endogenous purines.
- Purine which is found in other food is called as Exogenous purines.
Exogenous Purine metabolized by the body, it means whichever purine comes from the food required to be digested.
Liver our body’s super organ breaks down purine and create waste product called Uric acid.
Uric acid released into blood and it is grasped for the purpose of filtration in the kidney. Kidney filters the uric acid and direct it into urine.
Hence,
Uric acid = byproduct of purine digestion.
Importance of Uric acid
Uric acid helps in food metabolism. Uric acid is one of the most important antioxidants in human body and is responsible for making free radicals neutral ( Source: Glantzounis G, Tsimoyiannis E, Kappas A, Galaris D. Uric acid and oxidative stress, Curr Pharm Des , 2005, vol. 11 (pg. 4145-51). Hence uric acid is important for the body. Lower level of uric acid is founded in patient of parkinson disease.
What happens when uric acid increases?
When uric acid increases in the body then it is accumulated in joints and forming inflammation, this condition is called as ‘Gout’ ( ‘Sandhiva’ in gujarati, ‘sandhivat’ in hindi).
When excessive uric acid in the blood formed it is called a condition hyperuricemia, this condition creates ‘Gout’.
High level of uric acid is associated with hypertension, obesity, low level of the good cholesterol, and raised the level of insulin in blood. All these factors also responsible for heart problems. High level of uric acid can form kidney stones as well.
What happens when uric acid decreases?
Ever thought that what happens when uric acid is low in your body? Yes, it is not a good scenario as well. Low uric acid develops disease related to kidney and liver.
As I earlier mentioned, low uric acid is founded in people having Parkinson disease. Low level of uric acid is founded in patient of optic neuritis.
Hence, optimum level of Uric acid requires in the human body. Then, what is the normal value of uric acid for men and women?
Normal value of uric acid
Female is 2.4-6.0 mg/dL
Male 3.4-7.0 mg/dL
What you should do to decrease Uric Acid?
How to decrease excessive uric acid from body? Well, you are reading this article to have knowledge about how to decrease uric acid level. Here it is, read on:
- First of all, reduce high purine foods( See Table 1 for more info at below.)
- Increase intake of low purine foods ( See Table 1 for more info at below.)
- Do not take alcohol and beer.
- Do not take sugary foods like cakes, cookies, biscuits, ice cream, fructose rich foods.
- Do not take fast foods and processed foods.
- Reduce stress and tension and for that you must do yoga and meditation.
- Drink a lot of water in a day.
- Do exercise daily and lose weight, to lose weight with the help of yoga, please read this wonderful article (How to lose weight with help of yoga)
- Increase food like dry fruits, raw fruits, vegetables and fiber rich foods.
- Take Vitamin C rich food like lemon, gooseberry, oranges etc.
- Never take too much of salty, fried and sugary foods.
Table 1: Purine food chart
Yoga for decreasing uric acid
Yoga can help you in controlling uric acid levels. If you do some specific asanas on a daily basis then it will surely decreasing uric acid levels by reducing your body weight and other changes in digestion and metabolism.
As I mentioned earlier, if you maintain your body weight or reducing your body weight from excess to normal then you have very good chance to decreasing uric acid level. Read more on how to reduce weight with the help of yoga at (How to lose weight with help of yoga)
I am proposing here few yoga asanas to decrease uric acid levels.
- Surya namasakar ( Do it for 4-5 daily).
- Uttanpadasana ( Do it 10-12 daily).
- Halasana (Do it 2-3 daily).
- Dhanurasana (Do it 1-2 daily).
- Ustrasana (Do it 1-2 daily).
- Trikonasana (Do it 2-4 daily).
- Virabhadrasana ( Do it 3-4 daily).
- Padmasana for 10 minutes daily.
- Kapalbhati Shatkriya (Do 3 rounds of 15-30 Kapalbhatis each). You can read more on kapalphati at How to do kapalbhati
Ayurveda to decrease uric acid level
Ayurveda is an ancient wisdom from india focusing on preventive health of human beings. Ayurveda is a healthy lifestyle. It is more like a preventive approach.
Ayurveda has lot of remedies for uric acid level balance. I am proposing few ayurvedic remedies and medicines to lower uric acid levels and treatment for gout.
- Giloy: According to ‘Journal of Pharmacognosy & Phytochemistry’ Giloy is highly beneficial in the treatment of Gout and lowering of uric acid, The journal stated that “ juice extract from the stem of giloy is very effective for the treatment of gout as it helps to neutralize the increased uric acid levels in the body.”
- Amla (Indian gooseberry) : Take amla juice daily in morning, you can take 25ml-50ml pure raw amla juice with water. Amla is balancing tridoshas and hence very beneficial in maintaining uric acid level
- Triphala: Triphala is a combination of three herbs of Amla, Haritaki and Behda. Triphala is popular ayurvedic medicine in India and many people take it daily to maintain tridoshas. Even if you are a healthy person, you should consume triphala as it has no side effects.
- More Herbs: Gorakhmundi (sphaeranthus indicus), Manjistha (Rubia cordifolia), Pippali (Piper longum), Amalki (Phyllanthus emblica), Mulethi (Glycyrrhiza glabra), Haritki (Terminalia chebula), Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus), Gokshura (Tribulus terrestris), Bhringraj (Eclipta alba).
- Churnas – Chopchinyadi churna, Manjisthadi churna, Giloy satva, Panchnimbadi churna.
- Gutika/Vati – Punarnava guggulu, Gokshuradi guggulu, Kaishor guggulu
- Kwath – Navkarshik kashaya, Dashmool kwath, Amritadi kwaath.
