Intake of added sugar and sugar-sweetened drink and serum uric acid concentration in US men and women

Fructose-induced hyperuricemia might have a causal role in metabolic syndrome, hypertension, and other chronic disease. However, no study has investigated whether sugar added to foods or sugar-sweetened beverages, which are major sources of fructose, are associated with serum uric acid concentration in free-living populations. We examined the relationship between the intakes of added sugars and sugar-sweetened beverages and serum uric acid concentrations in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2002, a nationally representative sample of men and women. We included 4073 subjects (1988 men and 2085 women) >18 years of age in the current study. Dietary intake was assessed by a single 24-hour recall. We used multivariate linear regression to adjust for age, gender, intake of energy and alcohol, body mass index, use of diuretics, β-blockers, and other covariates. Male subjects in the highest intake quartile of estimated intake of added sugars or sugar-sweetened drinks had higher plasma uric acid concentrations than those in the lowest intake quartiles (P<0.001 for both) after adjusting for potential confounders, whereas we did not observe significant associations for females (P for trend>0.2; P for interaction <0.01). Further research is needed to confirm causality of these associations and the observed difference by gender.