Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of consumption of different cocoa-derived products on uric acid crystallization in urine of 20 healthy volunteers. Participants were requested to select the specific diet that they wished to follow during the 12 h prior to collection of urine. The only restriction was that the diet could not include any product with cocoa, coffee, or caffeine. On the first day, each volunteer followed their selected diet, and an overnight 12 h urine sample was collected as the baseline urine. After seven days on an unrestricted diet, each volunteer repeated the same diet with 20 g of milk chocolate, chocolate powder, or dark chocolate during breakfast and another 20 g during dinner. Overnight 12 h urine samples were then collected. Urine volume, pH, oxalate, creatinine, uric acid, theobromine, and a uric acid crystallization test were determined for each sample. The results for all 20 patients show that uric acid crystallization was significantly lower following the consumption of chocolate powder or dark chocolate relative to baseline or following the consumption of milk chocolate. The results indicated that increased concentrations of urinary theobromine reduced the risk of uric acid crystallization.
Highlights
Renal lithiasis currently has a prevalence of about 10% worldwide [1], and the estimated prevalence will be about 30% by 2050 [2]
We developed a method to assess the urinary uric acid crystallization risk (UAC test), and used this test to determine the effects of consumption of different cocoa-derived products on the capacity of the urine of healthy subjects to form uric acid crystals
Our results indicated that an increased concentration of urinary theobromine reduced the risk of uric acid crystallization in urine
Summary
Renal lithiasis currently has a prevalence of about 10% worldwide [1], and the estimated prevalence will be about 30% by 2050 [2]. Renal calculi are composed of different substances, and uric acid is present in 7 to 14% of all calculi [3,4,5,6]. Uric acid stones mainly affect males, have a high rate of recurrence, and are associated with other pathologies, such as diabetes and obesity [7,8,9]. The main cause of uric acid crystallization is the supersaturation of urine [13], there are other important factors. Urinary pH may be more important than hyperuricosuria, because a pH below 5.5 markedly decreases the solubility of uric acid. Patients with uric acid stones have lower urinary pH than healthy individuals [14,15]. Many healthy individuals have urinary pH values below 5.5 and high uric acid concentration, but no uric acid stones
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