Urea levels in blood increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, even if the kidneys work properly, according to a study conducted with more than 1.3 million people.
Kidney disease causes the kidneys not to eliminate urea (an organic substance resulting from the degradation of proteins) of the body, so their levels rise in the blood and this accumulation can cause various health problems.Now, a new study has shown for the first time that the elevation of blood urea is an independent risk factor of type 2 diabetes, even if the renal function is adequate.
The research, which has been published in Kidney International, has been carried out by analyzing the data of 1,337,452 non -diabetic veterans that were part of the VA Health Care System database in 2003, and to which it was followed for five years.Its results, in addition, confirm the findings found in a previous study with mice, in which it was observed that urea suppressed insulin secretion and reduced insulin sensitivity in these animals, suggesting that high urea levels favorThe appearance of diabetes.
The risk of diabetes was 23% higher in individuals with a high level of blood urea
95% of the participants in the study were male, were an average age of 66 years, and most of them (83%) had never consumed drugs such as corticosteroids, which increase the risk of diabetes.91% of these people had an ureic blood nitrogen ≤ 25 mg/dl, and the remaining 9% had a high level of ureic nitrogen in blood.
During the entire monitoring period, 172,913 new cases of diabetes were diagnosed, and it was found that the risk of suffering from the disease was 23% higher in individuals with a high level of blood ureic nitrogen.Thus, there were 2,989 new cases of diabetes per year per 100,000 people with low levels of urea, compared to 3,677 new cases of diabetes per year per 100,000 patients with high levels of this substance.
Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, VA St. Louis Health Care System in San Luis (USA), and the main author of the work, explained that the results of the investigation constitute an almost exact replica of those obtainedIn the study with mice, and showed an obvious association between urea figures and the risk of diabetes, so they can affirm that the cause of this metabolic disease appears are the high levels of urea, and not kidney problems.
Blood urea levels can be raised for different reasons even if the kidneys work well, such as excessive protein consumption, certain medications, dehydration ... Therefore, Dr. al-ray has indicated that although it is prematureBlood urea levels in patients presentNephropathy control the urea levels of these people.