How does whisky lower serum urate level?

Clinical studies have shown that moderate whisky consumption increased renal excretion of urate into urine and decreased serum urate level, but the mechanism involved has not been established. Because renal reabsorption influences serum urate level, the effects of the whisky congeners on urate transporters, urate transporter 1 (URAT1), and voltage-driven urate transporter (URATv1) involved in reabsorptive transport of urate were examined. In transporter-expressing Xenopus oocytes, 12-year-old and 18-year-old whisky congeners inhibited urate uptake by URAT1 with IC50 values of 0.08 ± 0.01 and 0.04 ± 0.01 mg/mL, respectively, while urate uptake by URATv1 was inhibited only at 1 mg/mL. Decreased serum urate level after whisky consumption may be mainly due to inhibition of URAT1 by the congeners.