High Blood Urea

Snowdrop

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Messages
45
Is this a good or bad sign and what does it mean?

My urea has always hovered around 3.0 mmol/L (2.5 - 7.0)

It is now 8.5 mmol/L (2.5 - 7.0)

Any insight would be most appreciated.
 

haidut

Member
Forum Supporter
Joined
Mar 18, 2013
Messages
19,798
Location
USA / Europe
Is this a good or bad sign and what does it mean?

My urea has always hovered around 3.0 mmol/L (2.5 - 7.0)

It is now 8.5 mmol/L (2.5 - 7.0)

Any insight would be most appreciated.

It can be a sign of high muscle catabolism, dehydration, high protein diet, or even kidney issues. I would test cortisol and kidney function, as well as electrolytes and CO2.
 

dookie

Member
Joined
May 5, 2015
Messages
517
It can be a sign of high muscle catabolism, dehydration, high protein diet, or even kidney issues. I would test cortisol and kidney function, as well as electrolytes and CO2.

Wouldn't high urea be a good sign, similar to high uric acid? I think it would be a sign of good CO2 production
 

haidut

Member
Forum Supporter
Joined
Mar 18, 2013
Messages
19,798
Location
USA / Europe
Wouldn't high urea be a good sign, similar to high uric acid? I think it would be a sign of good CO2 production

It would have to be considered together with other variables like creatinine, electrolytes, cortisol, etc. You can get high urea from eating a high protein diet or getting dehydrated but in general high urea is not looked upon favorably in the medical world especially if some of the other biomarkers of tissue damage are also elevated.
 
OP
Snowdrop

Snowdrop

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Messages
45
This is Ray Peat's reply in regards to blood urea being high and outside of the reference range.

Too much of certain kinds of protein (meats mainly, some kinds of nut) can cause hypothyroidism, and since thyroid is our main anabolic hormone, that can create a catabolic situation, of accelerated protein breakdown and slowed synthesis. Urea synthesis is accelerated to remove the ammonia from protein breakdown. At the same time, hypothyroidism slows kidney function, which can cause a slight rise in serum urea. Milk and cheese protein are less likely to inhibit the thyroid, and probably tend to slightly increase it. Vitamin D supplementation can have a similar effect if it was deficient. RP
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom