Add Lemon To Your Water
This is a natural treatment that conventional nephrologists have gotten right. While lemon water is often touted as a cleansing or alkalizing drink, the main reason it is helpful in reducing stone formation is its citric acid content.
Citric acid inhibits stone formation and breaks up small stones that are beginning to form. It works in a few different ways. Citrate binds with calcium in the urine, reducing the amount of calcium available to form calcium oxalate stones. It also prevents tiny calcium oxalate crystals that are already in the kidneys from growing and massing together into larger stones. It also makes the urine less acidic, which inhibits the development of both calcium oxalate and uric acid stones.
Youll need about a half a cup of lemon juice added to water throughout the day to get the same benefits as taking a potassium citrate pill, which is one of the standard pharmaceutical treatments for kidney stones. You can either take this all in one shot, or spread your intake of the lemon juice throughout the day. Try adding half a cup of lemon or lime juice to a 32 ounce bottle of water and sip on it throughout the day. If you prefer, you can also try adding apple cider vinegar, which also contains citric acid and is an alkalizing addition to your beverages.
Hour Urine Test For Urine Calcium Levels
There is a test to measure the amount of calcium in your urine. This is almost always done by having you collect your pee in a jug for 24 hours and keeping that jug in your refrigerator the entire time . This test is supposed to tell your doctors if you have too much calcium in your urine, and from this they are supposed to tell you if you are at risk for more stones. The concept being that people with higher calcium in their kidneys are more likely to get kidney stones. Unfortunately, it isnât that simple and this test is pretty worthless. Letâs take a look at the 24-Hour-Urine results for 10,000 of our patients who had hyperparathyroidism. This graph shows the amount of calcium along the bottom X axis from a low near zero up to 1000 mg/24 hours . The normal range is less than 350, but you can see that most patients with hyperparathyroidism have urine calcium that is in the normal range. We then made every patient with kidney stones have a red dot, and those that never had a kidney stone have a blue dot. And guess what, they are exactly the same. The amount of calcium in the urine is the same for those with kidney stones and those without kidney stones.
As a review from above, even mildly elevated calcium in the BLOOD will dramatically increase your risk of kidney stones , with the risk being related to the duration of high calcium , and not related at all to how HIGH the blood calcium is in the BLOOD or in the urine.
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Kidney Stones And Calcium
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, April 1, 1997, has important implications for women who take calcium supplements for the prevention of osteoporosis, a common condition affecting 20 million women that results in thinning of bones and leads to fractures of the hips and spine.
Kidney stones also are a common condition in which stones form in the kidney and result in pain, bleeding into the urine, and blockage of the ureters, the tubes that conduct urine from the kidney to the bladder. The major components of the most common type of kidney stone are calcium and oxalate both of which come primarily from the diet, that is, the food we eat.
The study was a large, epidemiological study of 91,731 nurses who had never had kidney stones and were between the ages of 34 and 59 at the beginning of the study in 1980. The nurses were followed with questionnaires for 12 years. The questionnaires asked specifically about dietary habits, calcium supplements, and kidney stones. The dietary intake of calcium also was estimated from the dietary habits.
Among nurses taking calcium supplements the risk of developing stones was greater than among nurses not taking calcium supplements. Specifically, nurses taking supplemental calcium were 20% more likely to develop stones as women not taking supplemental calcium.
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Vitamin D And Kidney Stones: Lessons From Animal Models
Among the few animal models of kidney stone formation, the most interesting is certainly the genetic hypercalciuric stone-forming rat . This model has been obtained by inbreeding the most hypercalciuric progeny of successive generations of SpragueDawley rats . When fed on a standard diet, these rats have a dramatically higher urinary calcium excretion than controls and develop kidney stones made of calcium phosphate, or calcium oxalate with the addition of hydroxyproline to the diet . As in humans, hypercalciuria is a polygenic trait . This rat model is essential for addressing the pathophysiology of hypercalciuria. There is dramatically increased intestinal calcium absorption in GHS rats but also increased bone resorption and reduced renal tubular calcium reabsorption . These rats have increased biological activity of VDR in the bones and intestines and an increased VDR expression in the intestines, bones and kidneys. Calcitriol administration to GHS rats exacerbates calciuria by increasing intestinal calcium absorption but also bone resorption . These observations support the role of VDR in human hypercalciuria, but also the potential roles of calcitriol and VDR in bone demineralization which frequently affects kidney stone formers .
What Is Casr And What Is Its Relationship To The Parathyroid And Kidneys
CaSR is a protein made from the CASR gene CASR provides instructions that enable the body to produce CaSR.The CaSR protein is found on the surface of all parathyroid cells in the parathyroid glands, which produce and release PTH to regulate calcium in the blood. Calcium molecules can attach themselves to CaSR, which enables the protein to monitor and regulate calcium in the blood.
To activate CaSR, the blood calcium level must reach a higher level then what is appropriate for your body . Once activated the CaSR blocks PTH production and release into the blood stream. When CaSR is not activated because calcium levels are lower then expected then more PTH is produced and released into the blood.
In instances where the parathyroid glands are not working correctly, the CaSR becomes less sensitive to calcium , and so it takes a higher level of calcium in the blood to activate CaSR and stop PTH production. .
Additionally in one study, researchers found a direct correlation between kidney stones and two modifications of CaSR. They also discovered that patients coping with primary hyperparathyroidism were prone to kidney stones and CaSR modifications.
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Does Calcium And Vitamin D Cause Kidney Stones
Kidney Stone Risk Associated With Long-Term Vitamin D And Calcium Intake. A new study presented at The Endocrine Societys 94th Annual Meeting in Houston reveals that calcium and vitamin D supplements are linked to high levels of calcium in the blood and urine, which could raise the risk of developing kidney stones.
What Causes Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are formed when high concentrations of certain minerals in the urine crystallize to form hard masses i.e. the stones.
These stones could contain calcium, uric acid and oxalates and usually get lodged along the urinary tract and obstruct the flow of urine, resulting in unbearable pain. The pain is intermittent, overwhelming and lasts until the last stone passes out naturally or is removed surgically.
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The Best Calcium Sources For Kidney Stones
No doubt about it, eating enough calcium is a critical part of a healthy diet for people who have calcium kidney stones. But, what is the best way to eat enough calcium?
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Calcium And Vitamin D Are Some Of The Most Common Supplements Taken In The Us
Around 77 percent of adult Americans take dietary supplements, per a 2019 survey from the Council for Responsible Nutrition , and vitamin D and calcium are some of the most popular ones out there. According to the survey, following multivitamins, vitamin D is the most popular supplement with 31 percent of adults taking it. And around 20 percent say they take calcium supplements.
The 2014 study also notes that both calcium and vitamin D supplements are “widely recommended” for post-menopausal women in order to prevent osteoporosis, a bone disease likely to occur in people with low calcium levels.
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Dietary Supplements And Over
Taking too much vitamin D or calcium in the form of supplements can raise your calcium level. Excessive use of calcium carbonate, found in common antacids like Tums and Rolaids, can also lead to high calcium levels.
High doses of these over-the-counter products are the of hypercalcemia in the United States.
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Why You Get Stones
Part of preventing stones is finding out why you get them. Your health care provider will perform tests to find out what is causing this. After finding out why you get stones, your health care provider will give you tips to help stop them from coming back.
Some of the tests he or she may do are listed below.
Medical and Dietary History
Your health care provider will ask questions about your personal and family medical history. He or she may ask if:
- Have you had more than one stone before?
- Has anyone in your family had stones?
- Do you have a medical condition that may increase your chance of having stones, like frequent diarrhea, gout or diabetes?
Knowing your eating habits is also helpful. You may be eating foods that are known to raise the risk of stones. You may also be eating too few foods that protect against stones or not drinking enough fluids.
Understanding your medical, family and dietary history helps your health care provider find out how likely you are to form more stones.
Blood and Urine Tests
Imaging Tests
When a health care provider sees you for the first time and you have had stones before, he or she may want to see recent X-rays or order a new X-ray. They will do this to see if there are any stones in your urinary tract. Imaging tests may be repeated over time to check for stone growth. You may also need this test if you are having pain, hematuria or recurrent infections.
Stone Analysis
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Overview Of Calcium Phosphate Stones
Kidney stones composed predominantly of calcium phosphate constitute up to 10% of all stones and 15%20% of calcium stones, 80% of which are composed of calcium oxalate. Calcium phosphate is a minor component of up to 30% of calcium oxalate stones as well . The importance of calcium phosphate as an initiator of calcium stones has been highlighted by recent work showing that the vast majority of calcium oxalate stones form as overgrowths on Randalls plaque. Randalls plaque is an amorphous apatite that forms in the interstitium of the papillae, and it grows until it ruptures through the papillary urothelium and becomes exposed to urine calcium oxalate crystals nucleate and grow into kidney stones . Some data suggest that calcium phosphate stones have increased in prevalence. If true, the reasons are uncertain and have been attributed to treatment with citrate supplements or adverse effects of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy . Lithotripsy has been hypothesized to lead to defective urinary acidification, but this effect is highly speculative.
Linus Pauling Institute Recommendation
Combined evidence from metabolic, pharmacokinetic, and observational studies, and from randomized controlled trials supports consuming sufficient vitamin C to achieve plasma concentrations of at least 60 mol/L. While most generally healthy young adults can achieve these plasma concentrations with daily vitamin C intake of at least 200 mg/day, some individuals may have a lower vitamin C absorptive capacity than what is currently documented. Thus, the Linus Pauling Institute recommends a vitamin C intake of 400 mg daily for adults to ensure replete tissue concentrations an amount substantially higher than the RDA yet with minimal risk of side effects.
This recommendation can be met through food if the diet includes at least several servings of vitamin C-rich fruit and vegetables as part of the daily recommended fruit and vegetable intake . Most multivitamin supplements provide at least 60 mg of vitamin C.
Older adults
Originally written in 2000 by:Jane Higdon, Ph.D.
Reviewed in December 2018 by:Anitra C. Carr, Ph.D.Department of Pathology & Biomedical ScienceUniversity of Otago
Copyright 2000-2021 Linus Pauling Institute
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Is Too Much Of A Multivitamin A Bad Thing
Patients should consult with their physician or pharmacist before taking any vitamins.
Healthy individuals can easily get enough vitamin C through diet alone. In fact, based on a 2000-calorie diet for healthy adults, half of one 2.5-oz package of Kelloggs Fruity Snacks provides 100% daily value of vitamin C. If you ate the entire package, it would provide 200% DV.
Is there a ramification for overdosing on vitamins like this?
If a patient is deficient in vitamins or minerals, diet-based solutions should be recommended first because they can provide many bioactive compounds and dietary fiber not found in supplements. If a patient isnt deficient in vitamins or minerals, theres insufficient data to suggest benefit from taking more than the daily recommended allowance of certain vitamin or mineral supplements.1
Vitamin C, vitamin B12, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, tryptophan, pantothenic acid, biotin, and folic acid are all water-soluble vitamins and nutrients. Although the body adapts by absorbing only what it needs and excretes the excess in the urine, excretion decreases when study participants fast.2
Even though they arent stored in the body, water-soluble nutrients cant be presumed safe. In fact, too much vitamin B6 can cause nerve problems, too much vitamin C can cause kidney stones, and too much folic acid may mask vitamin B12 deficiency.2
How multivitamin overdose affects different parts of the body is displayed here3:
Body Part
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Important Advice To All Calcium Supplement Users
Calcium supplements are frequently prescribed to men and women above the age of 50, especially to menopausal and postmenopausal women as they are more vulnerable to developing osteoporosis and fractures.
For such people, it is critical to follow the guidelines given below:
- Always take your calcium supplements with your main meals of the day.
- Make sure the calcium supplement is balanced by vitamin D, vitamin K and magnesium in the right balance. This prevents the calcium from going to the places it does not belong to form kidney stones or to harden your arteries.
- The U.S. National Institutes of Health suggests a minimum of 2-3 litres of water per day in order to prevent kidney stones.
- Reduce excess sodium from processed foods or table salt
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How Will I Know If I Have A Kidney Stone
To find out the size and type of kidney stone you have, your doctor may do tests, including:
- Blood tests to show if there is too much calcium or uric acid in your blood
- Urine tests to show the type of wastes that are in your urine. For this test, your doctor may ask you to collect your urine over two days.
- Imaging tests, such as an ultrasound, CT scan or X-ray, to show kidney stones in your urinary tract
If you get kidney stones often, your doctor may ask you to urinate through a strainer to catch stones that you pass. Your doctor will then find out what they are made of to decide what is causing your kidney stones and how to prevent them.
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Simple Ways To Avoid Kidney Stones
Have you ever had a kidney stone? If yes, then you surely remember that unbearable pain. The pain of kidney stones coming in waves until the tiny stone passes out of the body. Its very common that kidney stones occur again. Around 50% of the people who have had one, another appears within seven years without preventive measures.
Here are the five ways to help prevent kidney stones:
Drinking an ample amount of water helps to dilute the substances in urine that lead to stones. Drink enough fluids to pass 2 liters of urine a day, which can be around eight standard 8-ounce cups. Some citrus beverages, like lemonade and orange juice, may help to do so. The citrate available in these beverages can be helpful to block stone formation.
As we already discussed while discussing can calcium supplements cause kidney stones that dietary calcium helps to binds to oxalate. That is used to decreases the amount of oxalate which is absorbed into the bloodstream and then excreted by the kidney.
Food items that contain a high-sodium diet can increase your risk of developing kidney stones due to the high amount of calcium in your urine. So, if you are stone prone then you should follow a low-sodium diet. According to the current guidelines, your daily sodium intake should not more than 2,300 mg. If you have a history of 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.
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