Hippuric acid

Optimal Result: 0 - 607 mmol/mol.

Benzoic acid and hippuric acid are formed from the bacterial metabolism of polyphenols. Urinary benzoic acid may also come from ingestion of food preservatives such as sodium benzoate. Hippuric acid is made when sodium benzoate is conjugated with glycine.

Common Dietary Sources:

Orange juice, elderberry, huckleberry, food preservative, berries, other flavonoids

References:

- Badenhorst CP, Erasmus E, van der Sluis R, Nortje C, van Dijk AA. A new perspective on the importance of glycine conjugation in the metabolism of aromatic acids. Drug Metab Rev. 2014;46(3):343- 361.

- Lees HJ, Swann JR, Wilson ID, Nicholson JK, Holmes E. Hippurate: the natural history of a mammalian-microbial cometabolite. J Proteome Res. 2013;12(4):1527-1546.

- Loo RL, Zou X, Appel LJ, Nicholson JK, Holmes E. Characterization of metabolic responses to healthy diets and association with blood pressure: application to the Optimal Macronutrient Intake Trial for Heart Health (OmniHeart), a randomized controlled study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2018;107(3):323-334.

- Williams HR, Cox IJ, Walker DG, et al. Differences in gut microbial metabolism are responsible for reduced hippurate synthesis in Crohn’s disease. BMC Gastroenterol. 2010;10:108.

What does it mean if your Hippuric acid result is too low?

Low levels of hippurate may occur if there are nutritional enzyme inhibitions or inherited low-activity enzyme variants present in the synthesis pathway, or if there are low levels of its precursor (plant materials). Hippurate is synthesized in the liver and kidney mitochondria from benzoate on a pathway that requires minerals and glycine. A low hippurate level with a higher benzoate level may indicate a glycine insufficiency or a defect in the glycine deportation system. Low levels of hippurate may also occur if the diet is poor in plant compounds or if there are too few beneficial bacteria in the gut. Comorbid conditions that may be associated with lower hippurate levels include inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) parasites, and obesity. Some toxic chemical exposures (hydrazine, methylene dianiline, galactosamine, chlorophenoxyacetic acid herbicides) may also decrease hippurate levels.

→ Low hippurate with increased benzoate may indicate a glycine deficiency or a defect in the glycine deportation system

- If indicated, consider supporting the glycine deportation system with magnesium, manganese (if deficient), potassium, rubidium and glycine.

- Poor methylation may inhibit serine/glycine interconversion. If indicated, consider checking methylation status.

What does it mean if your Hippuric acid result is too high?

Clinical Associations: Elevated levels of urinary hippuric acid have been associated with several clinical conditions that may be linked to dysbiosis. For example, elevated urinary hippurate was associated with an increase in blood pressure, likely due to the direct effect of gut-microbial products on blood pressure. However, in other studies low hippuric acid excretion has also been attributed to dysbiosis, which supports its use as a biomarker for general microbial alterations.

→ Increased metabolism by imbalanced gut flora may increase levels.

Dietary intake of polyphenols or food preservatives can also increase levels of these organic acids.

→ High levels of hippurate may occur if there is high consumption of whole grains or other plant foods (flavonoids, tea, coffee) or if there are higher levels of its precursor benzoate.

→ Liver conversion of benzoate into hippurate usually occurs within 3-4 hours.

→ Hippurate levels may also reflect liver protein metabolism, and hippurate levels may increase on a high protein diet or with amino acid supplementation.

→ Toxic exposures (toluene, benzenes, gasoline) may increase hippurate levels.

→ Hippurate may also increase if type II diabetes is present, or if the patient is highly stressed or anxious.

10 000+ happy customers
100% satisfaction
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ customer support

Understand blood, stool, and urine medical results from all your laboratories.

Upload Your Personal Results

Upload Personal Results

For professional account plans go here

for professional account plans go here

Monthly plan

Annual plan

Own it for life

  • Subscription
  • Data entry service included

    Data entry service

    Our exclusive data entry service is a convenient way to get your results into your private dashboard. Simply attach an image or a file of your lab test results, and one of our qualified data entry team members will add the results for you. We support all sorts of files, whether PDFs, JPGs, or Excel. This service is excellent whether you have a lot of reports to upload or are too busy to do the data entry yourself.

  • Instant interpretation
  • Use free data entry form

    Free data entry form

    We strive to make the data entry process easy for you. Whether by offering dozens of templates to choose from that pre-populate the most popular laboratory panels or by giving you instant feedback on the entered values. Our data entry forms are an easy, fast, and convenient way to enter the reports yourself. There is no limit on how many lab reports you can upload.

  • 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • Nutrition recommendations
  • Cancel anytime

Complete

$15 /month

billed every month

  • monthly
  • $15 per report
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ Free data entry form
  • ✓ Unlimited data
  • ✓ $15 data entry service
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

Most popular

Data entry included

Advanced

$79 /year

$6.60/month billed annually

  • yearly
  • 5 reports free
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ We enter 5 reports for you
  • ✓ Yearly subscription
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

Data entry included

Unlimited

$250 /once

own it for life

  • pay once
  • 10 reports free
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ We enter 10 reports for you
  • ✓ No subscription
  • ✓ Dedicated support
  • ✓ Unlimited access

Are You a Health Professional?

Get started with our professional plan

Welcome to Healthmatters Pro.

Save time on interpreting lab results with the largest database of biomarkers online. In-depth research on any test at your fingertips, all stored and tracked in one place. Learn more

Pro Monthly Plus

for health professionals

  • ✓ Track multiple clients results
  • ✓ No setup fees
  • ✓ No hidden costs
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Includes data entry service
  • ✓ Personal training and support
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

$75 per month

Use promo code to save 10% off any plan.


We implement proven measures to keep your data safe.

At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.