The end product of purine metabolism, cleared primarily by the kidneys.
It is the central marker in gout and a readily available secondary signal of metabolic health.
Measured in mg/dL. Each row is one claim about where your result should fall.
Laboratory reference intervals; sex-specific
Metabolic health platforms and low-fructose programs
| Claim | Range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Laboratory reference range | 3.4–7 mg/dL | Laboratory reference intervals; sex-specific |
| Under 5.5 mg/dL | < 5.5 mg/dL | Metabolic health platforms and low-fructose programs |
Where the sources disagree
For gout, the target is clinical and evidence-based. For everyone else, the case that uric acid is a treatable cardiometabolic target remains unproven. Note also that it falls during fasting and rises with rapid weight loss (including on GLP-1 therapy), which makes it easy to misread during exactly the period when many people are testing most frequently.
Each claim gets its strongest possible case before it gets its criticism. Several of these are substantially correct.
Under 5.5 mg/dL
Promoted by metabolic health platforms and low-fructose programs
Uric acid rises with fructose intake and insulin resistance, and it is associated with hypertension and metabolic syndrome independently of gout risk.
Trials lowering uric acid in people without gout have not consistently improved cardiovascular or metabolic outcomes, so it looks more like a companion of metabolic dysfunction than a driver of it.
One email when a reference range changes, a panel claim is corrected, or a regulatory status actually moves, not when something is merely proposed. No sponsors from any company we rate.
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