URIC ACID STUDIED

High levels of uric acid (a byproduct of protein metabolism) may be linked to aggressive behavior, according to a new study by Reuben Spitz et al.

The researchers studied 106 men admitted to a forensic hospital after committing violent crimes. The severity of each subject's aggression was rated by staff members. The researchers found that the highly aggressive subjects had significantly higher uric acid levels than those who were less aggressive.

"These findings," the researchers say, "suggest one must consider... uric acid levels as a physiological concomitant to long-term behavioral disturbance."

"Uric acid levels and severity of aggression," Reuben T. Spitz, Marc Hillbrand, and Hilliard G. Foster, Psychological Reports, 76, 130, 1995. Address: Marc Hillbrand, Box 70, Whiting Forensic Inst., Middletown, CT 06457.