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Benefits Of Drinking Tea
Drinking tea comes with significant benefits! Lets review a few of the main reasons why tea can promote kidney health.
The amount of fluid recommended for each person is different because each person is unique. In addition, a variety of factors impact fluid needs, including:
- Activity level
- Temperature/climate
- Body size
Hydration can impact kidney function and the ability to remove waste from the body. However, if you have late-stage kidney disease or certain heart conditions, too much fluid can be a problem. Always talk with your Physician and Dietitian about your daily fluid goals.
Of course, tea is only calorie-free and sugar-free when there is nothing added. Adding sweetener or cream will add calories and sugar. For some people, adding a bit of milk to black tea can help prevent the formation of kidney stones. More on this later!
Chamomile Tea And Kidneys
Like rooibos, chamomile tea is caffeine free and low in tannins and oxalates .
However, chamomile may have more than just a neutral effect on kidneys. In an animal study, animals with nephrotoxicity were administered chamomile and it was found to improve kidney function .
Chamomile also reduces kidney dysfunction as a result of high fat diets. Long story short, theres pretty good evidence that chamomile is good for kidneys ! That is a cup of good news.
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How Much Black Tea Can A Person With Kidney Disease Drink
A person with kidney stones can drink two or fewer 8 oz mugs of black tea drinks. This is because the safe limit of oxalates for kidney stone patients is 10mg or less.
If you have other kidney issues, the amount you can consume depends on your kidney issues severity and the doctors opinions.
If you have any kidney issues, I recommend drinking black tea after discussing it with your healthcare provider.
What Is Bad About Tea
Tea is not a bad thing. So, you shouldnt throw out all your tea bags and loose leaf teas. But, like anything you consume, you should drink some types in moderation.
Some teas contain oxalates. And, you are supposed to stay away from oxalate-rich foods if you are prone to developing kidney stones. But, the amount of oxalates contained in teas depends on different factors.
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Is Black Tea Bad For The Kidneys
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Made from the Camellia sinensis plant, black tea can be consumed hot or cold and is a nutritious addition to your healthy eating plan. Like many other things in life, however, too much of a good thing can end up harming your health, and that goes for black tea. Drinking more than 5 cups of black tea per day can have a negative effect on certain aspects of your health, including the health of your kidneys, according to MedlinePlus.
Can Tea Cause Kidney Stones Per Type Of Tea
Posted by Otto Olivier | Tea | 0
There is a widespread belief that the consumption of tea can lead to the formation of kidney stones. Maybe you have heard of this, especially when it comes to iced teas that people have come to love so much.
Well, recent studies show that taking tea may not be as harmful as most people think. In fact, even people who have had kidney stones in the past may not have to stay away from this drink. These studies have challenged the presence of oxalates in tea as the main factor in determining the risk of kidney stones.
If anything, they have shown that the compounds in tea can be more beneficial than harmful regarding renal health. One such study undertaken in 2019 shows that the polysaccharides present in tea can repair cells in the kidney.
Note that while these studies favor having tea, not all types of tea are good for you. Some can harm your kidneys, to the point of causing failure in these organs. The best way to stay safe is to research kidney stones and practice moderation in everything you do.
Also, you must stay hydrated. Before we look into how tea affects kidney stones formation , let us understand what they are.
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What Causes Kidney Stones
Now, we are finally at the part you have likely been waiting for all this while. Unfortunately, there is no single cause of kidney stones. Instead, they result from a combination of factors. The more of these factors in play, the more you are likely to suffer this condition.
You see, the stones come about when your urine has a high concentration of crystallizing substances. These include calcium, uric acid, and oxalates. Woe unto you if you have plenty of these. With tea, you will find that most of the concerns surround the oxalates presence, as we will later cover.
When you have too many of these substances than your urine can dilute, they start sticking together. And slowly, kidney stones develop.
Does Black Tea Cause Kidney Stones
Although black tea is higher in oxalates than other types of lightly or non-fermented tea, as mentioned above, recent studies suggest that moderate daily tea consumption is actually associated with a lower risk of renal stone disease .
Does Milk in Tea Affect Oxalates?
Oxalates have the potential to bind to a significant proportion of the calcium in added milk. When calcium is attached, oxalate will go through the stomach and intestines, finally leaving the body in the stool, rather than as urine via the kidney.
This is good if you are trying to lower the amount of oxalate going through the kidney, especially if you are a black tea drinker. However, if you struggle with getting enough calcium, you may need to boost your calcium intake to compensate .
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Black Tea And Kidney Stones
Black tea has the highest content of oxalates compared to other types of teas. It is around 6mg per 1 g of black tea.
When we drink black tea, oxalates in it go to our digestive tract. These oxalates can bind with calcium and will be excreted from our body with stool or urine.
But if we drink too much black tea like a gallon, then there will be many oxalates that can make calcium oxalates, and high black tea consumption will increase calcium oxalate concentration in urine. This will cause kidney stones.
Taking around 1500 mg of oxalates per day might cause kidney stones. But an average person like ourselves only consumes around 150 500 mg each day, and it is safe.
Drinking more than 4 5 cups of black tea is generally not safe. The safe limit to avoid kidney stones and other side effects related to caffeine is 4, 5, or fewer black teacups per day.
When we drink too much black tea, it can increase the oxalate levels in urine, promoting kidney stones.
In one case in 2014, a man who drank 1 gallon of black tea every day developed kidney failure due to a high concentration of oxalates in urine.
However, drinking black tea in moderation will help you, while drinking too much will harm you.
Different Types Of Kidney Stones
Causes of Kidney stones have no single reason, although several factors can increase the risk. Factors that can increase the risk are dehydration, family history, i.e. genetic, and the presence of medical conditions. There can also be other causes of kidney stones.
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Green Tea And Kidneys
Good news for green tea lovers! Green tea was found to help prevent the progression of kidney disease, due to the polyphenols and you probably already know it’s not nearly as high in caffeine as black tea or coffee .
Green teas also contain lower levels of oxalates than some other beverages, and higher levels of EGCG, which means green tea may help prevent kidney stone formation .
Furthermore, green tea does not contain creatinine – a waste product produced by the body that healthy kidneys filter from the blood. Unhealthy kidneys may not filter this chemical efficiently, causing creatinine levels in the blood to increase . But with green tea, theres no need to worry about that.
To learn more about green teas benefits, including the difference between Chinese and Japanese green teas, check out our spotlight post.
Four Myths About Kidney Stones
If you’ve ever had a run-in with kidney stones, then you’ve also had a run-in with a relative/neighbor/obnoxious over-sharer who has the home remedy that fixed them right up.
And while unsolicited after-dinner medical advice may sometimes sound reasonable, there’s a lot you need to know about your own kidney stones before you start adjusting your diet based on Aunt Alice’s latest stone story.
“You don’t want calcium because that’s what stones are made of, so ditch the milk.””Oxalates are bad, so stop eating foods like chocolate, beer, soy, nuts, spinach and coffee.””And if you feel a stone coming on, start drinking lots of cranberry juice to get rid of it.”
You’ve probably gathered lots of advice and home remedies in your battle against kidney stones . But many of grandma’s homemade fixes may actually do more harm than good when it comes to the specific composition of your kidney stones and the reasons why you are forming them.
What are kidney stones? They’re crystal-like formations of the excess minerals in your urine. This simple answer leads to simplified and problematic responses. The logic: Identify what you’re consuming, and reduce whatever the stone is made of.
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Drinking Too Much Iced Tea Caused Man’s Kidney Failure Doctors Say
- 56-year-old Arkansas man drank gallon of iced tea every day
- Black tea contains chemical oxalate, known to cause kidney problems
Doctors traced an Arkansas mans kidney failure to an unusual cause his habit of drinking a gallon of iced tea each day.
They ruled out several potential causes before stumbling on a reason for the 56-year-old mans kidney problems. He said he drank about 16 8-ounce cups of iced tea every day. Black tea has a chemical known to cause kidney stones or even kidney failure in excessive amounts.
It was the only reasonable explanation, said Dr Umbar Ghaffar of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. She and two other doctors describe the case in Thursdays New England Journal of Medicine.
The unidentified man went to the hospital last May with nausea, weakness, fatigue and body aches. Doctors determined his kidneys were badly clogged and inflamed by the food chemical called oxalate. The man is on dialysis, perhaps for the rest of his life, Ghaffar said.
Besides black tea, oxalate is found in spinach, rhubarb, nuts, wheat bran and chocolate. In rare cases, too much oxalate can lead to kidney trouble, but often theres also a contributing intestinal problem. That didnt seem to be the case for the Arkansas man, and he had no family or personal history of kidney disease.
At 16 cups of iced black tea each day, he was taking in three to 10 times more oxalate than the average American, Ghaffar and her colleagues reported.
General Recommendations When Choosing Herbal Tea
Its important to know that herbal teas are not regulated for dose, content, or purity. Therefore, when selecting an herbal tea, we recommend looking for a high-quality product that gives clear information about the quality of the ingredients on the label and their brand website.
Be aware that most of the time, adverse reactions to herbal teas occur with excessive use. Therefore, use moderation with any herbal tea.
*Licorice contains glycyrrhizin, a biologically active component that, when metabolized can lead to hypertension and hypokalemia .
When looking at products that contain licorice, be sure to look for the de-glycyrrhizinated form of licorice .
DGL is a safe form of licorice that will not cause any change to blood pressure or potassium levels and is used to treat various conditions in functional medicine.
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How To Avoid Kidney Stones
Here are the five ways to help prevent kidney stones:
Drink plenty of water: Drinking extra water dilutes the substances in urine that lead to stones. Strive to drink enough fluids to pass 2 liters of urine a day, which is roughly eight standard 8-ounce cups. It may help to include some citrus beverages, like lemonade and orange juice. The citrate in these beverages helps block stone formation.
Eat calcium rich foods: Dietary calcium binds to oxalate in your intestines and thereby decreases the amount of oxalate that gets absorbed into the bloodstream and then excreted by the kidney. This lowers the concentration of oxalate in the urine, so there is less chance it can bind to urinary calcium. That leads to decreased risk of kidney stones.
Reduce sodium: A high-sodium diet can trigger kidney stones because it increases the amount of calcium in your urine. So, a low-sodium diet is recommended for the stone prone. Current guidelines suggest limiting total daily sodium intake to 2,300 mg. If sodium has contributed to kidney stones in the past, try to reduce your daily intake to 1,500 mg. This will also be good for your blood pressure and heart.
Avoid stone-forming foods: Beets, chocolate, spinach, rhubarb, tea, and most nuts are rich in oxalate, which can contribute to kidney stones. If you suffer from stones, your doctor may advise you to avoid these foods or to consume them in smaller amounts.
Not Sweet: Too Much Iced Tea Causes Kidney Failure
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Drinking tea is good for your health. It may lower the risk of cancer, it can encourage weight loss, and recent studies have shown tea can help lower blood pressure.
But one Arkansas man discovered there can be too much of a good thing.
In May 2014, a 56-year-old man arrived at Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, complaining of weakness, fatigue and body aches. Doctors discovered that his kidneys were failing. He was placed on dialysis. After questioning the patient, they learned that he drank 16 8-ounce glasses of iced tea daily, which is about 1 gallon.
Iced tea is full of oxalic acid, which, when taken in excess, deposits in your kidneys and mucks up the work of removing waste from the blood, says Scott Youngquist, MD, an emergency physician at University of Utah Health. This patient was drinking 16 8-ounce glasses of iced tea per day for an unknown period of time. This created a load of oxalic acid that his kidneys couldn’t handle, leading to renal failure.
Black tea is rich in oxalate, a compound found naturally in many foods. Too much of it can also lead to kidney stones. The man likely consumed 1,500 milligrams of the compound daily. As a comparison, the average person ingests between 150 and 500 milligrams of oxalate each day.
This kind of kidney failure has also been reported due to excessive consumption of star fruit, cucumber fruit, rhubarb and peanuts, Youngquist says.
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Birth Control Pills Interacts With Black Tea
Black tea contains caffeine. The body breaks down caffeine to get rid of it. Birth control pills can decrease how quickly the body breaks down caffeine. Taking black tea along with birth control pills might cause jitteriness, headache, fast heartbeat, and other side effects.Some birth control pills include ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel , ethinyl estradiol and norethindrone , and others.
Is Yerba Mate Tea Good Or Bad For Kidneys
Yerba mate is an herbal tea native to South America with a smooth, woody flavor. Its high in antioxidants and nutrients. We bring it up here because it has a caffeine content comparable to coffee, making it a popular coffee alternative for waking you up in the morning.
Despite yerba mates benefits, there is little research on its relationship to kidney health. It does contain oxalic acid, an oxalate, so it should be avoided in excess when experiencing kidney conditions .
I have come across information that yerba mate may have properties which can help dissolve kidney stones. However, I have yet to verify this information with any reliable sources . At this time, Id recommend speaking to your physician and moderating your consumption of yerba mate if kidney health is a concern for you.
What we do know is that the antioxidants in yerba mate really make an impact in how the body responds to the high caffeine – in a good way. A much healthier way to get your high caffeine kick. To learn more about yerba mate and its benefits, check out our spotlight post!
Coffee, Black Tea and the Kidneys: The Conclusion:
For those who like cups and cups a day of coffee or black tea, the caffeine and oxalates should make you pause for thought if you care about your kidneys. BUT all is not lost, read on for…
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