Research

Hormonal

High serum uric acid levels are independently associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with a dose-response relationship showing a 6% increased risk per 1 mg/dl increment.

If you are middle-aged or older, having high uric acid is a warning sign for type 2 diabetes risk, independent of your weight or blood pressure. While this paper doesn't prescribe a specific treatment, it suggests that monitoring and potentially managing uric acid levels (through diet or medication as advised by a doctor) could be part of a strategy to prevent diabetes.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Our meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies provided strong evidence that high level of serum uric acid is independent of other established risk factors, especially metabolic syndrome components, for developing type 2 diabetes in middle-aged and older people.
Qin Lv et al. · PLoS ONE · 2013

Why this rating

Meta-analysis of 8 prospective cohort studies with consistent results, low heterogeneity, and adjustment for major confounders.

Source

High Serum Uric Acid and Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

Qin Lv et al. · PLoS ONE · 2013

DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0056864

Meta-analysis · 8 studiesCited 355×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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