Effect and Research Progress of Uric Acid Lowering Components in Food

Every year more and more people is suffering from hyperuricemia in China, but the drugs used in clinical to lower uric acid have certain side effects and the treatment costs are relatively high. Reduction of uric acid can be achieved by consuming some foods. This paper introduces the research progress on the effects and mechanism of some ingredients in foods that reduce uric acid such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, alkaloids, saponins, polysaccharides and probiotic etc. The effect of flavonoids on lowering uric acid mainly lies in inhibiting the formation and reabsorption of uric acid. On this basis, phenolic acids and alkaloids can also promote uric acid excretion. The research on the mechanism of uric acid lowering by glycosides is in the preliminary stage. Whether polysaccharides can be used as additives in uric acid lowering functional foods needs to be verified by more pharmacological studies due to the increase of uric acid caused by polysaccharide metabolism. Probiotics can not only reduce uric acid level but also alleviate renal function injury, which can be used as the superior substances of uric acid lowering functional products.