Change of diet may reduce chance of kidney stones, study shows

The cornerstones of an anti-stone diet embrace consuming loads of meals that include potassium, in addition to just a few servings of low-fat dairy day by day, to get sufficient calcium. Photo by Jakupica/Wikimedia Commons

High-potassium fruits and veggies that might assist embrace bananas, oranges, grapefruits, apricots, mushrooms, peas, cucumbers, zucchini, and melons equivalent to cantaloupe and honeydew.

To arrive at these suggestions, researchers from the Mayo Clinic used knowledge from questionnaires accomplished by kidney stone sufferers between 2009 and 2018. The group in contrast the diets of 411 individuals who had already had their first kidney stone and a management group of 384 people.

“We had this information and then we, number one, could look at things that … differed between controls and kidney stone formers, but then we’ve also been following these people forward in time,” stated study creator Dr. John Lieske, director of the O’Brien Urology Research Center on the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

During a median of simply over 4 years of follow-up, 73 sufferers within the study had recurrent kidney stones.

Lower ranges of calcium and potassium predicted that recurrence. After changes for non-dietary elements, decrease calcium continued to be a predictor. So did decrease potassium, however solely amongst those that weren’t already taking sure varieties of diuretics and calcium dietary supplements.

The excellent news? While sufferers may not be keen to regulate their diet earlier than a primary kidney stone, they’re way more doubtless to take action to stop a recurrence, the authors famous.

A key piece of recommendation on avoiding recurrent kidney stones contains ingesting water, heaps of it — about 9 12-ounce glasses of water per day.

Though this new study did not observe the profit from water, that may be as a result of it was following individuals who already have been ingesting excessive portions of water after their first kidney stone, Lieske famous.

“I would still say that’s always one of the mainstays when we see people, that they should definitely drink more fluid if they’ve had a kidney stone. That just will always be helpful,” Lieske stated.

Unfortunately, individuals who have had one kidney stone have an excellent chance of a repeat one — about 30% inside 5 years.

Having a kidney stone is not solely an excruciating expertise, however it’s additionally related to different well being points, together with persistent kidney illness, osteoporosis and coronary heart illness.

So, how a lot calcium and potassium needs to be consumed every day to maintain kidney stones at bay?

Two to 3 servings of low-fat dairy day by day can be the perfect method to devour the wanted calcium, Lieske stated, or an quantity equal to 1,200 milligrams. That quantity matches the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s day by day beneficial quantity for many adults.

Pinpointing a quantity for potassium was much less exact, as a result of the USDA would not supply a beneficial degree for potassium consumption.

So, merely consuming so much of vegetables and fruit is what the study suggests. That would internet sufferers the wanted potassium, plus different vitamins which are inherent to these meals that may be contributing to the prevention of kidney stones, together with citrate, Lieske steered.

The findings have been revealed on-line Monday in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Dr. Gary Curhan, a member on the Channing Laboratory and Renal Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, has researched kidney stones for many years. Curhan was not concerned on this study.

“One of the things that’s novel about this now is that they look for stone recurrence, which actually is really important,” Curhan stated. “Up to now, we’ve extrapolated our findings on incident formation to recurrent, but we didn’t have that.”

One problem, nevertheless, is realizing whether or not a brand new symptomatic kidney stone was actually recurrent or whether or not it was fashioned across the time the primary one fashioned, however did not move till later, Curhan stated.

He famous that there’s multiple kind of kidney stone, with the most typical being a calcium oxalate stone. In addition to including loads of fluids and extra of sure meals to a diet, it may even be essential to restrict different meals.

That can greatest be decided by working with a specialist who can consider the kind of kidney stone a affected person has, Curhan stated.

“I think the takeaway is that diet does matter for stone formation. Lots of people think that diet doesn’t matter, but it absolutely does,” Curhan stated. “We now have decades of evidence that that’s the case.”

More info

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has extra on kidney stones.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.