PREVENTION OF KIDNEY STONES
Posted by admin• Eat a diet rich in fibre, low in animal protein and low in sugar. Sucrose (table sugar) can increase the rate of absorption of calcium from the gut and also its level in the urine of some people. Lactose (milk sugar) also enhances calcium absorption by the body.
• Drink plenty of water or other watery drinks. Try to drink a glass of water in between the normal drinks you would have. This keeps the urine dilute and flushes out any tiny crystals that are about to form. Those who already have stones should aim at drinking enough fluids to produce 2-3 quarts of pale urine a day and should set their alarm clock to wake them at night to drink a glass or two. Most don’t produce another stone if they take this action.
• Magnesium supplements appear to inhibit stone formation, a fact first documented as far back as 1697! A recent Swedish experiment gave 200 mg magnesium a day to a group of forty-one men and fourteen women who individually averaged about one stone a year and who as a group had formed 460 stones during the ten years before the experiment. After 2-4 years on magnesium only eight of the patients reported new stones. As a group their average rate of new-stone formation fell by 90 per cent. A control group was kept as a comparison and not given magnesium. After four years 59 per cent had developed new stones.
• Vitamin B6 could be a valuable preventive too because of its oxalate-lowering effects. You can reduce your oxalate intake by avoiding spinach, rhubarb, tea, chocolate, parsley and peanuts, all of which are rich in oxalates. But you can also improve things with vitamin B6. This vitamin seems to be especially valuable in lowering the oxalate level of the urine of stone-formers. Indian researchers recently found that only 10 mg of vitamin B6 a day significantly lowered the oxalate levels in the urine of twelve stone-prone people all of whom had developed at least one stone a year in recent years.
This relatively small dose of the vitamin produced better results than a group of drugs called the thiazides which doctors use to increase urine output and so wash out any stones. Unfortunately, thiazides have certain unpleasant side-effects: they produce light-headedness, elevate the amount of sugar and uric acid in the blood (promoting diabetes and gout), and can also reduce the level of potassium in the blood, which produces muscle weakness and cramps.
• It seems that certain individuals are sensitive to increased dietary calcium which, in turn, results in high levels of calcium in their urine. It makes sense to limit your dairy produce intake if you are a stone-former. Having said this, be very careful not to so limit your calcium intake that you lay yourself open to osteoporosis.
• It appears that in some people salt produces an increase in calcium in the urine. If you or your family are stone-formers it makes sense to cut out added salt altogether.
• Alcohol increases the excretion of uric acid, calcium and phosphate and has an adverse effect on vitamin B6 and magnesium metabolism, both of which are useful in protecting against stone formation. Avoid alcohol or drink only in moderation.
• Vitamin Ñ is metabolized to oxalic acid, so don’t take high doses of the vitamin if you are at risk of forming kidney stones.
• If you have ever had an oxalate-containing stone (the commonest kind), avoid tea, coffee, chocolate, peanuts, spinach, rhubarb and beetroot because they are rich in oxalic acid.
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