Does Vitamin D Cause Kidney Stones

Vitamin D: The Kidney Vitamin

Too much of this vitamin can lead to kidney stones!

Many Americans are deficient in an important vitaminvitamin D. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest information has found that more than one-half of Americans of all ages have low levels of vitamin D. More and more information is pointing to how important vitamin D is to the body, especially the strength of bones.

In addition to maintaining healthy bones, newer research shows that vitamin D may also protect against heart disease. In fact, people with the lowest vitamin D levels had a 40% higher risk of cardiovascular disease in one study.

Talk with your doctor or dietitian before taking any vitamins that are not ordered for you. There are different types of vitamin D. Your doctor will be very specific about the type and amount you should be taking.

Why is vitamin D connected to the kidney? The kidneys are an important part of helping the body use vitamin D. Vitamin D comes from two sources in people. It could either be exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet B radiation. Or, it is absorbed from food or food supplements. The kidneys have an important role in making vitamin D useful to the body. The kidneys convert vitamin D from supplements or the sun to the active form of vitamin D that is needed by the body. With chronic kidney disease, low vitamin D levels can be found, sometimes even severely low levels. This may occur because injured kidneys are less able to convert vitamin D into its active form.

COVID-19 patients can become kidney patients.

Prevention Of Future Stones

Once your health care provider finds out why you are forming stones, he or she will give you tips on how to prevent them. This may include changing your diet and taking certain medications. There is no âone-size-fits-allâ diet for preventing kidney stones. Everyone is different. Your diet may not be causing your stones to form. But there are dietary changes that you can make to stop stones from continuing to form.

Diet Changes

Drink enough fluids each day.

If you are not producing enough urine, your health care provider will recommend you drink at least 3 liters of liquid each day. This equals about 3 quarts . This is a great way to lower your risk of forming new stones. Remember to drink more to replace fluids lost when you sweat from exercise or in hot weather. All fluids count toward your fluid intake. But itâs best to drink mostly no-calorie or low-calorie drinks. This may mean limiting sugar-sweetened or alcoholic drinks.

Knowing how much you drink during the day can help you understand how much you need to drink to produce 2.5 liters of urine. Use a household measuring cup to measure how much liquid you drink for a day or two. Drink from bottles or cans with the fluid ounces listed on the label. Keep a log, and add up the ounces at the end of the day or 24-hour period. Use this total to be sure you are reaching your daily target urine amount of at least 85 ounces of urine daily.

Reduce the amount of salt in your diet.

Eat the recommended amount of calcium.

Kidney Stones And Nutrition: How To Reduce Your Risk

Did you know that the formation of kidney stones and nutrition go hand-in-hand? Your diet and specific nutrients play a role in decreasing the risk of kidney stone formation.

Kidney stones form when substances become too concentrated in the urine. These substances are generally in your urine and are excreted by your kidneys. However, when the amount of these substances in the urine is too high, they form crystals.

There are other substances in the urine called inhibitors . Stone inhibitors help keep the crystals from sticking together. When the concentration of crystals is too high or the amount of inhibitors is too low, a kidney stone will form.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, one in ten people will develop a kidney stone during their life in the United States. Men are more likely to have kidney stones than women, and Caucasians are more likely than African-Americans. The incidence of kidney stones peaks between 20 and 40 years of age. However, a stone can occur at any age.

In this article, we discuss the link between kidney stones and nutrition and share ways to reduce your risk.

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And High Levels Of Calcium Can Result In Kidney Stones

According to Gallagher, hypercalciuria “can contribute to kidney stones,” he explained in a statement. That excess calcium in the urine can form salts that crystallize, resulting in kidney stones, the experts at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center explain. “The use of calcium and vitamin D supplementation may not be as benign as previously thought,” Gallagher said.

Symptoms of kidney stones include severe pain on either side of your lower back, a stomach ache that doesn’t go away, blood in the urine, nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, or urine that smells bad or looks cloudy, per the National Kidney Foundation .

Supplements And Sunlight Triggered Toxicity

The reported case concerns a 54-year-old man who had recently returned from a trip to Southeast Asia, where he had spent an extended time sunbathing . Upon returning to Canada, a family physician found that his creatinine level was elevated . Four weeks later, despite discontinuing antihypertensive medication and diuretics, which could have caused dehydration and elevations in creatinine, the patient’s creatinine level was even higher , and he was referred to a kidney specialist.

Further questioning revealed that the man had seen a naturopath who had prescribed high doses of vitamin D. Despite no known history of bone loss or vitamin D deficiency, the man took 800012000 IU of vitamin D daily for 2.5 years.

Workup disclosed hypercalcemia and elevated levels of vitamin D . Renal biopsy results showed kidney damage .

The nephrologist advised him to stop taking vitamin D supplements and to stop eating calcium-rich foods. His diuretics remained on hold, and the patient resumed taking one antihypertensive medication. At the second visit, physicians found that his levels of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and calcium had continued to increase. The patient also described new-onset skin itchiness, likely due to his high calcium levels.

The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

CMAJ. Published online April 8, 2019. Full text

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Symptoms Of Kidney Stones

Common symptoms of kidney stones include:

Sharp pain in your side or lower part of your abdomen
Pain while urinating
Urinary urgency
Pink, red or brown urine

Kidney stones can become stuck in the kidney if they are too large to pass on their own, which may lead to symptoms such as severe kidney pain, nausea and vomiting, explains Dr. Malik. If there is kidney obstruction, permanent kidney damage can occur if left untreated.

If urine is infected next to the obstructing stone, this is a urologic emergency that requires rapid decompression, Dr. Malik says. If this occurs, you may experience fever, chills, frequent and strong urge to urinate, blood in your urine, cloudy and foul-smelling urine.

“If you have any symptoms of a blocked stone or infection, see your doctor or go to an emergency department as quickly as possible for assessment and treatment,” says Dr. Malik. “This is a situation in which a patient could become septic very quickly if left untreated.”

More Information Coming On The Potential Effects Of Vitamin D Supplementation

Beginning in 2000, research into vitamin D’s role in conditions beyond bone health began to expand rapidly, and people started taking vitamin D supplements in hopes of warding off everything from heart disease to cancer. The science is finally catching up.

Harvard Medical School professor Dr. JoAnn E. Manson is the principal investigator of the ongoing Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial , a large study investigating whether vitamin D and omega-3 supplements can lower risks for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions. She says while there is strong support for vitamin D’s role in bone health and growing evidence that it may reduce cancer-related deaths, the evidence that it prevents conditions unrelated to bone health is not yet conclusive. “Research on vitamin D supplementation has been mixed, and especially when it comes to randomized clinical trials, it has not shown clear benefits,” she says. Longer-term follow-up of VITAL and results from other ongoing trials may provide additional information about any links between vitamin D and disease prevention.

However, when it came to heart disease, vitamin D supplementation seems to fall short. A meta-analysis that Dr. Manson and her team published in June in JAMA Cardiology showed no benefit from vitamin D supplements in preventing heart attack or stroke.

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Is Lemon Juice High In Oxalate

Potassium citrate tablets are commonly prescribed to people with recurrent kidney stones. However, lemon juice is also proven effective at reducing stone formation. Lime juice, orange juice and melon juice are other good sources of citric acid, but avoid grapefruit and cranberry juice, as they are high in oxalates.

Different Types Of Kidney Stones

Dr. Cedric Garland – Vitamin D & Kidney Stones

There is a considerable variety of kidney stones. Here are five well-known ones:

1. Calcium phosphate stones are common and easily dissolve in urine acidified by vitamin C.

2. Calcium oxalate stones are also common but they do not dissolve in acid urine. We will discuss this type further below.

3. Magnesium ammonium phosphate stones are much less common, often appearing after an infection. They dissolve in urine acidified by vitamin C.

4. Uric acid stones result from a problem metabolizing purines . They may form in a condition such as gout.

5. Cystine stones result from an hereditary inability to reabsorb cystine. Most children’s stones are this type, and these are rare.

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Does Coffee Give You Kidney Stones

Caffeine intake has been shown to be associated with increased urinary calcium excretion and, as such, could potentially increase the risk of developing kidney stones, although in our previous reports we consistently found an inverse association between consumption of caffeine-containing beverages, such as coffee …

Can Too Much Vitamin C Lead To Kidney Stones

Being in the midst of cold season, many of us try to take as many preventive actions as possible to avoid the sniffles, whether it’s washing our hands more frequently, taking more vitamins, sucking on zinc lozenges or popping extra vitamin C supplements.

But if you are a male, be aware of how much vitamin C you are taking. A recent study in the “JAMA Internal Medicine” journal found that men who ingested vitamin C supplements of 1,000 mg/day or more were at increased risk for kidney stones. Vitamin C intake through diet did not carry the same risk.

The recommended dietary allowance for vitamin C in the United States is 75 mg/day for women and 90 mg/day for men.

“Most people get enough vitamin C from a balanced diet and our bodies absorb it most effectively from the foods we eat,” says Sarah Malik, MD, Nebraska Medicine gastroenterologist.

“People who might be susceptible to vitamin C deficiency, such as smokers, people with severe intestinal malabsorption or cachexia and cancer patients might be at increased risk of vitamin C inadequacy, may benefit from the use of vitamin C supplements under a doctor’s supervision,” says Dr. Malik.

Major sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits, tomatoes, cantaloupes and strawberries. Approximately 70% to 90% of vitamin C is absorbed in moderate intakes of 30 to180 mg/day. However, at doses above 1g/day, absorption falls to less than 50%. Absorbed, unmetabolized vitamin C is excreted in the urine.

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Risk Factors For Kidney Stones

Approximately 1 in 10 people will develop kidney stones. While anyone can develop kidney stones, the following will increase your risk:

Dehydration due to dry climate or from intense exercise or you simply don’t drink enough water
Obesity
Metabolic conditions such as cystinuria, oxaluria or gout
Use of certain drugs such as protease inhibitors, antibiotics, some diuretics and calcium-based antacids
Diseases or surgery of the digestive tract including inflammatory bowel disease and gastric bypass surgery
A diet rich in salt, protein, refined sugars and soft drinks
You have had kidney stones in the past
Family history of kidney stones
Structural abnormalities in the kidney such as ureteropelvic junction obstruction, urinary diversion surgery, horseshoe kidney
You have polycystic kidney disease or another cystic kidney disease
Your urine contains high levels of cystine, oxalate, uric acid or calcium

If kidney stones are suspected, your health care provider will order tests to determine if you have kidney stones and to develop a treatment plan. Treatment will depend on how large the stone is, its makeup, whether it is blocking your urinary tract and the degree of pain it is causing.

Kidney Stones And Some Supplements May Not Be Healthy Mix

Dr. keith Roach

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Dear Dr. Roach I have been taking a multivitamin for years, and now one of my physicians wants me to take a vitamin that has NO vitamin D or calcium. He just removed kidney stones in two separate procedures. I cant find any vitamins like that. D.A.S.

Answer I completely agree that people with kidney stones should avoid calcium supplements. The transiently high levels of calcium after taking one cause the kidney to excrete a lot of that calcium, and that can cause a calcium crystal to grow, eventually forming a stone. Calcium that comes from the diet, on the other hand, does not induce such a spike in blood levels. Also, part of the calcium bonds with oxalate, preventing that chemical a major part of many kidney stones from being absorbed. High dietary calcium reduces the risk of stones.

The effect of vitamin D is not as clear. It seems that having low vitamin D is a risk for forming stones, so many experts will treat low vitamin D levels in people with kidney stones. I dont know your exact situation. It may be that your vitamin D level is normal or high, and you just dont need supplementation.

The most recent studies have consistently shown that most of the vitamins in a multivitamin tablet do not improve health or prevent illness, so I dont recommend multivitamins anymore. I would encourage a healthy diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Save your money on the vitamin tablets.

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Is My Vitamin D Supplement Causing Kidney Stones

In this episode of the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast Jill Harris answers a listener question about raising Vitamin D levels without causing more kidney stones.

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About the AuthorJill Harris, LPN, CHC

Jill Harris is a Licensed Practical Nurse who specializes in kidney stone prevention. Her goal is to teach you what you need to know and, more importantly, how to put that knowledge to work so you can stop forming stones. For good.

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This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical care. Always follow your health care professional’s instructions.

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Regular Articlecardiovascular Pulmonary And Renal Pathologyvitamin D And Calcium Supplementation Accelerates Randall’s Plaque Formation In A Murine Model

Most kidney stones are made of calcium oxalate crystals. Randall’s plaque, an apatite deposit at the tip of the renal papilla, is considered to at the origin of these stones. Hypercalciuria may promote Randall’s plaque formation and growth. We analyzed whether long-term exposure of Abcc6/ mice to vitamin D supplementation, with or without a calcium-rich diet, would accelerate the formation of Randall’s plaque. Eight groups of mice received vitamin D alone , a calcium-enriched diet alone , both vitamin D supplementation and a calcium-rich diet, or a standard diet for 6 months. Kidney calcifications were assessed by 3-dimensional microcomputed tomography, -Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission-scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Yasue staining. At 6 months, Abcc6/ mice exposed to vitamin D and calcium supplementation developed massive Randall’s plaque when compared with control Abcc6/ mice . Wild-type animals did not develop significant calcifications when exposed to vitamin D. Combined administration of vitamin D and calcium significantly accelerates Randall’s plaque formation in a murine model. This original model raises concerns about the cumulative risk of vitamin D supplementation and calcium intakes in Randall’s plaque formation.

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Can vitamin D supplements cause kidney stones

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What Does The Research Say

A 2012 study presented to the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society found that calcium and vitamin D supplements could increase a persons risk for developing kidney stones.

The use of calcium and vitamin D supplementation may not be as benign as previously thought, said principal investigator J. Christopher Gallagher, M.D. He and his team studied healthy, postmenopausal women aged 52 to 85.

While the 12-month study didnt include any cases of kidney stones, it did show a significant number of cases of elevated calcium in the blood and urine. And other studies have found that such elevated calcium levels can contribute over the longer term to the formation of kidney stones.

People should not exceed the guidelines suggested by the Institute of Medicine, which are 800 international units of vitamin D, and 800-1,200 mg per day of calcium,Dr. Gallagher told Renal & Urology News.