The interest in uric acid, well beyond its role in gout, focusing on its pivotal role in metabolic issues, is expanding rapidly, and globally. Without question, one important reason for this new understanding is the work of Dr. Richard Johnson, professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Dr. Johnson has an exciting new book entitled, Nature Wants Us to be Fat. We will be discussing his new book today on the podcast. As many of you will note, this is Dr. Johnson’s second appearance on the program and we will consider this to be an important “part two,” picking up where we left off last time in his brilliant elucidation of this newly discovered, central player in metabolic diseases, uric acid.

On a personal note, over the past year I’ve gotten to know Rick very well, and I absolutely cherish our newfound friendship.

I also explore uric acid it in my new book, Drop Acid, but to be clear, the incredible body of research belongs to Dr. Johnson. And this is the reason that readers of my new book will note that it is dedicated to Dr. Johnson as my way of honoring him for his incredible body of research that clearly is helping, and will continue to help so many people moving forward.

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Richard J. Johnson, M.D. has been a practicing physician and clinical scientist for over 25 years. He is internationally recognized for his seminal work on the role of sugar and its component fructose, in obesity and diabetes. His work has also suggested a fundamental role for uric acid (which is generated during fructose metabolism) in the metabolic syndrome. Dr Johnson is a prolific scientist with research that has been funded by the National Institute of Health since the 1980s. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and has published over 700 papers, lectured in over 45 countries, and is a highly cited scientist. He previously authored The Sugar Fix with Timothy Gower in 2008 (Rodale) and The Fat Switch in 2012. He is currently a Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado in Denver. He lives in Aurora, Colorado with his wife, Olga, children, Ricky and Tracy, and two miniature golden doodles, Charlie Brown and Apollo 11.