Nobody goes looking for this. The number turns up on a routine blood test with a little "H" beside it, and suddenly you are reading about purines at 11 pm. So, the short version. Uric acid climbs for one of two reasons: your body makes too much, or your kidneys do not flush out enough. Food, alcohol, extra weight, a few everyday medicines, kidney disease and plain genetics are the usual suspects. Most people feel nothing.

What is uric acid?

Purine is a substance in your cells and in many foods. Your body breaks it down, and uric acid is the leftover. Normally it dissolves in blood, reaches the kidneys and leaves in urine. Here is the part most people miss. Only about a third of your uric acid comes from food. The rest your body makes itself. So diet matters, but it is rarely the whole story. When the balance breaks, uric acid piles up and forms tiny sharp crystals that settle in joints and kidneys. The medical name for a high level is hyperuricemia.

The two reasons behind every case

Which side you fall on changes the treatment, so your doctor works this out first. In roughly one in ten people, the body makes too much. Rich food and alcohol do it, as do conditions where cells break down fast, like psoriasis or blood cancers.

In everyone else, the kidneys let too little out. Weak kidney function, dehydration, some medicines, high BP affecting the kidneys and diabetic kidney damage sit here. Carry extra weight and you get both at once.

12 causes of increased uric acid

#	Cause	Why it raises your level
1	Red meat and organ meat	Liver, kidney, brain and mutton are purine-heavy
2	Seafood and shellfish	Prawns, crab and small oily fish are packed with purines
3	Alcohol, mainly beer	Beer adds purines and alcohol slows the kidneys down
4	Sugary drinks and juices	Fructose drives up production in the liver
5	Extra body weight	Fat tissue makes more, kidneys clear less
6	Kidney disease	Weaker kidneys filter out less each day
7	Certain medicines	Water pills, low-dose aspirin and some TB drugs
8	Diabetes and insulin resistance	High insulin tells the kidneys to hold it back
9	High blood pressure	Poorer blood flow through the kidneys means poorer clearance
10	Family history	Genes decide how well your kidneys cope
11	Fasting and crash diets	Ketones block the exit route it uses
12	Too little water	Less urine out means less uric acid out

Which foods should you cut down?

High Purine
- Foods: Liver, kidney, brain, mutton, prawns, crab, sardines, and beer
- How often: Best avoided
Moderate Purine
- Foods: Chicken, fish, dal, rajma, chana, spinach, cauliflower, and mushrooms
- How often: Small portions, up to twice a week
Low Purine
- Foods: Rice, roti, vegetables, fruits, milk, curd, paneer, eggs, coffee, and water
- How often: Safe for daily consumption

Two things worth clearing up. Dal, rajma and spinach do contain purines, but studies have not found plant purines raising gout risk the way meat does. Keep your dal. And milk, curd and paneer are not merely safe, they help push levels down. If stones are your worry, our uric acid kidney stone diet guide goes further.

Which medicines can raise uric acid?

This one catches people out. Thiazide and loop diuretics, the water pills given for BP and swelling, are the biggest offenders. Low-dose aspirin does it too, as do cyclosporine and tacrolimus after a transplant, the TB drugs pyrazinamide and ethambutol, and niacin or levodopa.

Do not stop any of them yourself. Take your prescription to your doctor and ask if a safer option exists.

Why does uric acid increase in women?

Oestrogen helps the kidneys clear uric acid, which is why gout stays largely a men's problem for most of adult life. After menopause that protection goes and levels creep up.

The signs look different too. Instead of one furious big toe, women get aching fingers, wrists or knees, morning stiffness, or stones that keep returning. BP water pills add to the risk. Plenty of women are told it is arthritis or simply age. One blood test settles it.

What level of uric acid is dangerous?

Up to 7.0 mg/dL in men and 6.0 mg/dL in women: Normal range
6.8 mg/dL and above: Crystals can begin to form
7–9 mg/dL: High; consider dietary changes and consult a doctor
Above 9 mg/dL: Very high; increased risk of gout and kidney stones

Our guide on uric acid normal range has the full age-wise and gender-wise numbers.

What happens if you ignore it?

Gout is the classic one. A big toe, ankle or knee that wakes you at 2 am, red and too sore to touch. Kidney stones bring sharp pain in the back or side, sometimes with blood in the urine. Over years, crystals can build into tophi, chalky lumps under the skin near knuckles and ear rims.

Then there is the quiet damage. Kidney function can slip with no symptoms, and advanced kidney disease may need dialysis or a transplant, so know the early warning signs. High uric acid is also linked with heart disease and stroke.

When should you see a doctor?

Go if a joint turns red, swollen and very painful. Go if your report reads above 7 mg/dL, if stones keep returning, or if the level sits alongside diabetes, BP or kidney trouble.

Why choose Narayana Health

High uric acid falls between three specialities, which is exactly why patients get passed around. At Narayana Health you see the right doctor first time. Our nephrologists check how well your kidneys are clearing it, our rheumatologists handle gout and long-term control, and our urologists treat stones with everything from tablets to laser. All three work together under our Renal Sciences programme, backed by in-house labs, same-day reports and dietitian support across India.

The takeaway

Almost nobody's uric acid went up because of one plate of mutton. It is usually your food, water, weight, medicines and kidneys all pulling the same way, and most of that you can change. Get tested, take the report to a doctor, and treat the cause rather than the number.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Does high uric acid always cause symptoms?
A. No. Over 95% of people with a high level feel nothing. It usually shows up by accident.

Q. Does whey protein increase uric acid?
A. No. Whey comes from milk and is low in purines, and trials suggest it may even nudge levels down. Just drink enough water.

Q. Do eggs and chicken increase uric acid?
A. Eggs are low in purines and fine daily. Chicken sits in the middle, so keep portions small and stick to a few days a week.

Q. Does tomato increase uric acid?
A. Tomatoes are low in purines. A few people swear they trigger a flare, but for most they are perfectly fine.

Q. Can high uric acid be cured?
A. It can be controlled very well with diet, weight loss, water and medicine where needed. Treat it as something you manage, not a one-time fix.