Association between serum uric acid levels and dietary fiber intake in adults: the Korea national health and nutrition examination survey (KNHANES VII, 2016–2018)

Background: Hyperuricemia could be a risk for various chronic diseases, and it could be largely corrected by diet control. This study was a nationwide cross-sectional study to investigate the association between serum uric acid level and dietary fiber intake. Methods: This study analyzed data based on the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted from 2016 to 2018. Adults over 20 years of age with normal renal function, defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) over 30mL/min/1.73m², were included. The criteria for hyperuricemia were ≥ 7 mg/dL in men and ≥ 6 mg/dL in women. Data regarding dietary intake were obtained using the 24-hour recall method. Results: A total of 15,278 subjects (6,455 males/8,823 females) were analyzed. The prevalence of hyperuricemia was 19.3% in men and 6.8% in women. There were significant, negative associations between serum uric acid and total fiber intake in both men and women. Consuming more than 27.9 g of dietary fiber in men and 20.7 g in women reduced the risk of hyperuricemia by approximately 30% with odds ratios of 0.72 (0.62–0.83) and 0.71 (0.56–0.88) in men and women, respectively. With regard to the risk reduction by the type of dietary fiber, cereal fiber was significantly identified in both men and women, while fruit fiber was only significant in men. In the subgroup analysis, this association remained significantly in young and metabolically healthy populations with normal weight. Conclusions: Dietary fiber intake was inversely associated with serum uric acid levels. This relationship was particularly significant in metabolically healthy young adults.