Research

Hormonal

Uric acid induces hepatic steatosis by generating mitochondrial oxidative stress, which inhibits aconitase, leading to citrate accumulation and subsequent de novo lipogenesis.

High fructose intake generates uric acid in the liver, which causes oxidative stress and fat accumulation. Lowering uric acid (e.g., via allopurinol in hyperuricemic patients) can reduce liver fat. For the general population, reducing fructose/sugar intake may prevent this uric acid-mediated pathway.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Mitochondrial oxidative stress results in the inhibition of aconitase in the Krebs cycle, resulting in the accumulation of citrate and the stimulation of ATP citrate lyase and fatty-acid synthase leading to de novo lipogeneis.
Miguel A. Lanaspa et al. · Journal of Biological Chemistry · 2012

Why this rating

Strong mechanistic evidence in cell lines and animal models, supported by human observational data, but lacks direct human interventional trials proving causality in healthy populations.

Source

Uric Acid Induces Hepatic Steatosis by Generation of Mitochondrial Oxidative Stress

Miguel A. Lanaspa et al. · Journal of Biological Chemistry · 2012

DOI 10.1074/jbc.m112.399899

mechanism_onlyCited 700×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →