How can I reduce my risk of kidney stones recurring?
How can I reduce my risk of kidney stones recurring
?
Kidney stones are common and often cause a great deal of pain. Before the age of 50, men are more susceptible to kidney stones than women, but after thereafter, occurrence appears to be fairly equal among men and women.
It is important to note that kidney stones are likely to reoccur. If you develop one stone, the likelihood of the problem recurring is increased. Five years after having the first stone, 20 per cent will have developed a second. This increases to 35 per cent recurrence at 10 years and 70 per cent at 20 years. So if you develop one stone, you should examine your diet and its affect upon your individual kidney stones risk.
The first thing to consider, in terms of preventing kidney stones from recurring, is the type of stone you have developed. This is because different types of stones will be triggered by specific foods. There are four main types of stone: calcium, struvite, uric acid, and cystine. Calcium stones normally are the result of excess calcium in the diet, struvite are linked to kidney infections and an excess of magnesium, and uric acid stones form when there is a high acid content within the urine.
Calcium stones are the most commonly occurring type. If you develop a calcium stone it is likely to be due to the amount of oxalates in your diet. Oxalates prevent the body from absorbing calcium and consequently, the calcium can accumulate in your kidney to form a stone. Foods that contain oxalates include beetroot, nuts, asparagus, rhubarb, chocolate and berries.
If you have developed a uric acid stone, you should reduce the amount of meat and fish in your diet. This is because when protein based foods like meat break down, they produce uric acid.
Struvite stonesare normally the result of kidney infections. Prevention of this type of stone is based on reducing the risk of infection, rather than changes to diet.
Cystine stones are rarer and due to a genetic disorder causing cystine to leak into the kidneys and form crystals.
For all types of kidney stone, it is important to drink plenty of water. People often ask what the daily amount should be and the general advice is between 1.5 and two litres a day. But it depends on what you are doing each day and the weather conditions if you take part in high intensity sport, or if you have a physical job, you need to drink more. You should also drink more in hot weather. Equally, drinks like tea and coffee which contain caffeine counter-act the positive effects of water and should only be drunk in moderation.
Overall, we should guard against a simple idea of good' and bad' foods. In every meal, you eat a range of food, some of which will have an inhibitive effect on stone formation, for example, fruit and vegetables, while others, such as red meat, carry a risk for stones. So overall, the range of good' and bad' food counterbalances each other. Beware of snacks outside of meal times, such as salted nuts, which have a bad' effect but no positive counterbalance.
Equally, some people are able to eat large amounts of food containing oxalates, or consume a high protein, meat based diet, without developing stones, while others consume a smaller proportion yet are more susceptible to stones. The key is to understand your own individual risk factors and taking specific steps to reduce that risk. You should ensure you are seen by a urologist specialising in the treatment of kidney stones, a full metabolic investigation of your stones is undertaken and from this, you are given your own future stones prevention plan.
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