Can Kidney Stones Be Genetic

Energy Drink Kidney Failure Risk Result In Lawsuit Against Monster Energy

After regularly drinking four cans of Monster Energy per day, a lawsuit filed against the manufacturer of the popular beverage alleges that side effects of the energy drink caused kidney failure among an Arizona man.

The complaint was filed against Monster Beverage Corp. by Robert Grim, who indicates that he was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney failure from Monster energy, and now requires dialysis treatment and is awaiting a kidney transplant, according to a report by The Daily Beast.

Grim claims that he consumed about four cans of Monster Energy every day for about 10 years, which is not uncommon given the manufacturers aggressive marketing of the highly caffeinated beverage in a manner that has led many consumers to believe it is the same as a common soft drink or cup of coffee. However, each can actually contains substantially higher levels of caffeine and other stimulants, which have been linked to an increasing number of reports involving severe health risks from energy drinks.

Final Message: Moderation If You Really Want Them

In a time when we are increasingly seeking natural, holistic health and wellbeing, energy drinks that are dense in sugar and caffeine are not even close. However, like everything in health, it is all about moderation. Drinking an energy drink every now and then is, in reality, unlikely to cause any long-term damage. It is instead when their use becomes daily and, especially multiple and a habitual crux to your day. If this happens, its time to look to reduce your intake and as ever, if you need, head along to see your GP for some more support and information.

Dr Nick Knight is a GP based in London

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The Basics Of Calcium Stone Disease And Its Nongenetic Factors

Calcium-containing kidney stones are the most common type of kidney stone. A collection of systemic causes may predispose toward calcium stone formation and include inflammatory bowel disease, primary hyperparathyroidism, and renal tubular acidosis however, in most people these are absent. Instead, metabolic factors within the urine, the commonest being hypercalciuria, contribute toward a stone-forming environment. The evidence points toward calcium oxalate stones forming on anchored sites in the renal papillae made of interstitial apatite deposits and known as Randall plaques., However, in conditions where there is urinary supersaturation of calcium salts, formation of stones may develop from crystal deposits at the tip of the Bellini duct and within inner medullary collecting ducts. The most obvious environmental risk factor for stone formation is dehydration from low fluid intake and other risk factors include high dietary animal protein and sodium. Monogenic forms of kidney stones are rare but their study offers a chance to understand the underlying pathophysiology and develop novel therapies.

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Energy Drinks Effect On Kidneys And Health

The world of energy drinks is a mystifying one. The connoisseurs swear by them. Detractors try their best to warn people of their possible side effects. The average person on the street tends to not have too much of a clue either way.

Letâs take a look at the evidence behind the safety of energy drinks and whether they have any specific damaging effect on the kidneys.

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Types Of Kidney Stones

Kidney stones come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colours. Some are like grains of sand, while in rare cases others can grow to the size of a golf ball.

The main types of kidney stones are:

• calcium stones, the most common type of stone
• struvite stones, usually caused by an infection, like a urine infection
• uric acid stones, usually caused by a large amount of acid in your urine

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Inhibitors Of Stone Formation

Normal urine contains chelating agents, such as citrate, that inhibit the nucleation, growth, and aggregation of calcium-containing crystals. Other endogenous inhibitors include calgranulin , TammHorsfall protein, glycosaminoglycans, uropontin , nephrocalcin , prothrombin F1 peptide, and bikunin . The biochemical mechanisms of action of these substances have not yet been thoroughly elucidated. However, when these substances fall below their normal proportions, stones can form from an aggregation of crystals.

Sufficient dietary intake of magnesium and citrate inhibits the formation of calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate stones in addition, magnesium and citrate operate synergistically to inhibit kidney stones. The efficacy of magnesium in subduing stone formation and growth is dose-dependent.

Signs And Symptoms Of Kidney Stones You Need To Know

If youve heard one thing about kidney stone symptoms, its probably the excruciating pain part. The rumors are, unfortunately, true: Of all the signs of kidney stones, the particular kind of agony they can cause is typically the clearest one. So its a good idea to familiarize yourself with how exactly that exquisite pain presents, as well as the handful of other kidney stone symptoms you can experience. Heres hoping you find the following information about signs of kidney stones interesting but that it never personally comes in handy for you.

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Tubular Dysfunctions And Their Consequences And Other Extrarenal Manifestations

Finding that young renal stone formers have hypomagnesaemia , magnesium and calcium wasting, or polyuria and hyposthenuria not secondary to an increase in water intakei.e. potential signs of a Henle’s loop defect, as in familial hypomagnesaemia with hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosisshould lead physicians to consider the diagnosis of this autosomal-recessive disorder caused by a defect in the claudin 16 gene . The concurrence of ocular problems, such as severe myopia, horizontal nystagmus, or corneal calcifications, might also suggest such a diagnosis .

Systemic acidosis, failure to thrive, sensorineural hearing loss and osteoporosis or rickets in patients with renal stones should arouse a suspicion of dRTA .

Low serum phosphate levels, and/or low-grade proteinuria, or a rickets phenotype point to the cause of renal stones being Dent’s disease or hypophosphataemic rickets with hypercalciuria .

Low serum phosphate levels might also be associated with the rare hypophosphataemic nephrolithiasis with osteoporosis, a proximal tubular defect of the Type 2 sodiumphosphate transporter, which is encoded by the SLC34A1 gene . Of course, primary hyperparathyroidism needs to be ruled out when low serum phosphate levels are observed. A mild drop in the levels of serum phosphate may also be due to high or inappropriately normal circulating levels of fibroblast growth factor 23 .

Drinking Plenty Of Fluids

To aid the removal of the stone, it is important to drink plenty of clear fluids. Keeping well hydrated will also help to prevent stones from forming too. Drinking lots of water is particularly important if you have a stone that has formed from uric acid as this will help to break the stone down. In these instance you will be advised to try to drink around three litres of water a day and may also be given a medication to make your urine more alkaline, which will also help the stone break down.

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Dialysis For Kidney Failure

Dialysis artificially removes waste from your blood. There are two forms of dialysis haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Peritoneal dialysis is further broken down into two main types, continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis and automated peritoneal dialysis .The choice of dialysis method depends of factors such as your age, health and lifestyle. Over 2,000 Australian adults start renal replacement therapy each year.

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What Diet Can Help Prevent Uric Acid Stones

Avoid or limit foods high in purines. Too much of this chemical causes your body to produce more uric acid. A high uric acid level leads to more acid in your urine, which results in uric acid stones forming.

To prevent uric acid stones, cut down on high-purine foods, including:

• Red meat.

• Whole grains.
• Low-fat dairy products.

It also helps to limit sugary foods and drinks, especially those that have high-fructose corn syrup. And try to avoid crash diets, which can increase uric acid levels in your blood.

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Future ‘exceedingly Bright’ For Kidney Stone Prevention

Gene therapy, new therapeutics currently in clinical trials, and a promising dietary supplement are feeding the optimism of kidney stone expert Glenn Preminger, MD.

Glenn Preminger “The future of kidney stones looks exceedingly bright,” said Preminger, professor of urology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, during his lecture at the American Urological Association 2021 Annual Meeting. The estimated annual cumulative incidence of kidney stones is approaching 1.0% in the United States, up from 0.6% in 2005, according to a report in the Journal of Urology.

One of the most interesting directions for the medical management of stones lies in genetic investigations, said Preminger. “It is estimated that 11% of adults and 29% of patients diagnosed before the age of 25 may have a monogenic mutation causing their stone disease, which can also impact renal function.”

Primary hyperoxaluria should be suspected if urinary oxalate is more than 75 mg/day in adults without bowel dysfunction, according to AUA guidelines, and those patients should be referred for genetic testing.

Genetic testing should also be considered in high-risk cases, such children with a strong family history of stones and patients with nephrocalcinosis or stones and concurrent chronic kidney disease, Preminger advised.

Nephrocalcinosis And Renal Hyperechogenicity

Many of the conditions listed in Table cause nephrocalcinosis, i.e. the deposition of calcium concretions in the renal parenchyma. Although this is usually the direct consequence of the genetic defect, nephrocalcinosis can also result from inappropriate treatments. This is the case, for instance, of vitamin D treatment in patients with autosomal-dominant hypocalcaemic hypercalciuria .

Nephrocalcinosis can be diagnosed in a renal biopsy, but a biopsy is quite infrequently done in stone formers. In adults, the condition is generally recognized on plain abdomen radiography revealing typical radio-opaque images, generally with a medullary distribution, or hyperdense images with a similar distribution on computed tomography of the kidney, or papillary and medullary hyperechogenicity on kidney ultrasound . This last finding does not point unequivocally to nephrocalcinosis, however, since other causes of an increased renal echogenicity include the deposition of radiolucent concretions unrelated to calcium, like the 2,8-dihydroxyadenine crystals in the crystal nephropathy seen in patients with adenine phosphoribosyl-transferase deficiency . Although kidney US for nephrocalcinosis may have few pitfalls in neonates and preterm infants , and a comparison of US and CT in experimental nephrocalcinosis showed US to have higher sensitivity , but lower specificity than CT , in infants and in children, kidney US is the most frequent and preferred tool for diagnosing nephrocalcinosis.

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Calcium Oxalate Stone Prevention Analysis In Vivo

Briefly, wild type or mutant flies were reared on regular fly food containing 0.1% NaOx and different concentration of HCA or GCE at 25°C for one week. Malpighian tubules of adult female flies were dissected in PBS under dissection microscope and then subjected to the examination of renal stone in malpighian tubules under polarized white light with an Olympus BX63 optical microscope. We randomly selected three images for quantification. Renal stone formation was measured in the whole field of view using cellSens software. The results were expressed as mean ± SD . All statistical analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism5 software. Statistical significance was defined as P< 0.05.

High Sugar Content And Diabetes And Obesity

This one is very straightforward. Energy drinks contain huge amounts of sugar and unnecessary calories. And despite many trying to clean up their act , this still largely remains the case. With the non-athletic use of energy drinks high, the calorie input vastly outstrips the energy demand and so these calories then easily get converted to, and stored, as fat. And we all know that fat is bad and will contribute to the development of obesity. However, whats worse than fat? Sugar. You see, the sugar content means that your blood stream is flooded and your bodys sugar regulation has to fight to control it. With sustained use, it will eventually lose the fight and insulin resistance develops with diabetes mellitus becoming a real risk. Plus, when you mix these drinks with alcohol the calorie intake sky-rockets and these problems only get bigger.

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Classical And Modern Genetic Approach To Kidney Stone Disease

• Giuseppe VezzoliCorrespondenceCorrespondence: Giuseppe Vezzoli, Unità di Nefrologia e Dialisi, Istituto Scientifico Universitario San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 60, 20142 Milano, Italy.AffiliationsNephrology and Dialysis Unit, Genomics of Renal Diseases and Hypertension Unit, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
• Teresa ArcidiaconoAffiliationsNephrology and Dialysis Unit, Genomics of Renal Diseases and Hypertension Unit, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
• Lorena CitterioAffiliationsNephrology and Dialysis Unit, Genomics of Renal Diseases and Hypertension Unit, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

N Engl J Med.J Am Soc Nephrol.Ann Hum Genet.Ann Hum Genet.

et alKidney International Reports

• Keich Y.
• Goldberg J.

Kidney Int.

N Engl J Med.Kidney Int Rep.

• Keich Y.
• Goldberg J.

Kidney Int.J Am Soc Nephrol.

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Prevalence Of Inherited Renal Stones

Data on the prevalence of these rare conditions in the general population or among stone formers are vague. There could also be a considerable variability among different populations and ethnic groups. To gain just a rough idea of their relative importance, it is helpful to look at the prevalence of particular stone compositions reported by one of the most important stone analysis laboratories worldwide, the Laboratoire Cristal at the Hôpital Necker in Paris . Although the data from this case group are certainly biased for a number of reasons , they are very informative on the prevalence of the different types of stone. Among almost 44 000 stones investigated using infrared spectroscopy over a 25-year period, 1.9% were clearly associated with monogenic disorders.

Cystinuria and primary hyperoxaluria were the most represented conditions: the former was more common in adult cases , while the latter was seen more in children . There were few cases of overt distal renal tubular acidosis , 2,8-dihydroxy adeninuria and other forms .

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The Kidney Stone/soda Connection

If youve had kidney stones, you know how painful they can be. Theyre also really common: its estimated that one out of 11 people in the United States have had a kidney stone. Kidney stones are hard masses that build up in the kidneys. Kidney stones can range in size from a grain of sand to that of a golf ball. Youre more likely to get kidney stones if you:

• Are a man
• Are between 20- and 60-years-old
• Have a family or personal history of stones
• Have a poor diet ,

The Major Causes And Risk Factors For Kidney Stones

• Kidney stones form when certain substances like calcium, oxalate, or uric acid bind together in your urine.
• You are more likely to develop kidney stones if it’s genetic and runs in the family, or if you have a medical condition like diabetes, obesity, or IBD.
• Risk factors for kidney stones also include an unhealthy diet high in sodium and low in calcium or living in the southeastern US.
• This article was medically reviewed by S. Adam Ramin, MD, urologic surgeon and medical director of Urology Cancer Specialists in Los Angeles, California.

• Buy On

Kidney stones are small, painful clumps of minerals that form in your urinary tract. To avoid them, it’s important to understand the causes. In fact, your genetics play a big role in whether or not you develop kidney stones, but what you eat and drink, as well as where you live, are also key risk factors. Here’s why.

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How May These Be Treated Naturally

Kidney stones might be treated naturally be these remedies,

Reducing toxins and therefore the stress on kidneys.

Drinking sufficient water to assist the excretion of toxins.

A diet rich in antioxidants and low on acids for instance,

Kidney beans Pomegranates

Cabbages and broccolis Purple grapes

Egg whites Watermelons

Increased consumption of magnesium with dark green vegetables.

Increasing calcium from dietary sources and avoiding its supplements.

Reducing consumption of proteins and salts.

What Causes Kidney Failure

The most common causes of kidney failure are diabetes and high blood pressure. Sometimes, though, kidney failure happens quickly due to an unforeseen cause.

When the kidneys lose function suddenly , its called acute kidney failure . This type of kidney failure is often temporary. Common causes of acute kidney failure can include:

• Autoimmune kidney diseases
• A urinary tract obstruction
• Uncontrolled systemic disease like heart or liver disease

Kidney failure usually doesnt happen overnight. Chronic kidney disease refers to a group of health conditions that affect how well your kidneys function over time. If left untreated, chronic kidney disease can lead to kidney failure.

The biggest causes of kidney failure from chronic kidney disease are:

• Diabetes: Unmanaged diabetes can lead to uncontrolled blood sugar levels. Consistently high blood sugar can damage the bodys organs, including the kidneys.
• High blood pressure: High blood pressure means blood travels through your bodys blood vessels with increased force. Over time, untreated high blood pressure levels can damage the kidneys tissue.

Other causes of chronic kidney disease include:

• Polycystic kidney disease, a hereditary condition where cysts grow inside your kidneys.
• Glomerular diseases, such as glomerulonephritis, which affect how well the kidneys can filter waste.
• Lupus and other autoimmune diseases that can affect multiple body systems.

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Energy Drink Manufacturers Stand

Currently, most manufacturers participate in voluntary and mandatory reporting on the adverse effects of their respective energy drinks.

The current official line from the manufacturers seems to be that insufficient data exist with regards to most ingredients found in major energy drinks and therefore a cause and effect relationship between any energy drink and death/illness cannot be conclusively established.

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