Is Banana Good For Kidney Stones
Researchers attributed to the high magnesium and potassium content of banana for its ability to prevent the formation of kidney stones. They explained that magnesium combines readily with the oxalates in the food we eat, inhibiting the growth of a type of kidney stone known as calcium oxalate crystals.
Kidney Stone Causes And Risk Factors
Both men and women can get kidney stones, but menâs chances of getting them are about double that of womenâs.
Itâs often hard to figure out what caused a kidney stone. But they happen when your urine has high levels of certain minerals. These include:
- Calcium
- Oxalate
- Uric acid
If you donât have enough urine in your body to water down the high concentration of minerals, stones can form. Think about stirring up your favorite drink from a powder mix. If you donât add enough liquid — say, water or juice — the powder will clump up and turn into hard, dry chunks.
Things that can raise your risk for kidney stones include:
- What you eat
- Some medications like triamterene , a diuretic that treats high blood pressure antiseizure drugs corticosteroids and protease inhibitors like indinavir sulfate for HIV.
What Are Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are also known as renal calculi or nephrolithiasis. They typically occur in adults, but can affect children as well and can occur even in babies. Kidney stones form when high amounts of certain substances accumulate in the kidneys, forming crystals or a stone. Certain stones are caused by other diseases but many are related to diet and nutrition. Some doctors note anecdotal evidence that more children are getting this condition, possibly due to too much salt in their diets.
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What Causes Kidney Malfunction
A major culprit of kidney problems is an acidic diet . A brand-new study sheds light on the renal problems that can be caused by a high-acid, meat-rich diet.
The study followed 1,500 people with kidney disease for a period of 14 years. Participants who ate a diet high in meat came very close to experiencing complete kidney failure, while those who ate more fruits and vegetables did not even come close to kidney failure. Researchers estimate that an acidic diet can make it three times more likely for your kidneys to fail.1
Says lead study author Dr. Tanushree Banejee,
Patients with chronic kidney disease may want to pay more attention to diet consumption of acid rich foods to reduce progression to kidney failuredialysis treatmentsmay be avoided by adopting a more healthy diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables.1
Reducing Kidney Stone Risk
Drinking enough fluid will help keep your urine less concentrated with waste products. Darker urine is more concentrated, so your urine should appear very light yellow to clear if you are well hydrated. Most of the fluid you drink should be water. Most people should drink more than 12 glasses of water a day. Speak with a healthcare professional about the right amount of water that’s best for you. Water is better than soda, sports drinks or coffee/tea. lf you exercise or if it is hot outside, you should drink more. Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup should be limited to small quantities.
Eat more fruits and vegetables, which make the urine less acid. When the urine is less acid, then stones may be less able to form. Animal protein produces urine that has more acid, which can then increase your risk for kidney stones.
You can reduce excess salt in your diet. What foods are high in salt? Everyone thinks of salty potato chips and French fries. Those should be rarely eaten. There are other products that are salty: sandwich meats, canned soups, packaged meals, and even sports drinks.
Some herbal substances are promoted as helping prevent stones. You should know that there is insufficient published medical evidence to support the use of any herb or supplement in preventing stones.
- What food may cause a kidney stone?
- Should l take vitamin and mineral supplements?
- What beverages are good choices for me?
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What Causes Kidney Stones In Children
Most kidney stones are caused by high levels of calcium, oxalate, or phosphorus in the urine. These minerals are normally found in urine and do not cause problems at normal levels.
Certain foods and beverages may increase the chances of having a kidney stone in children who are more likely to develop them.
When children cant move for a long time, for example when a child is in a cast after surgery, the chances of developing a kidney stone are higher. When children arent moving, their bones may release extra calcium into the blood.
Without The Extra Alkali Urine Ph Would Fave Fallen Far More
Here is the calculated effect. Urine pH falls far more and far more steadily, and the sexes are now more or less the same.
We think that the actual losses of kidney function and the rising BMI were always important. But, as these would have tended to make the urine acid, rising GI Anion offset their effects.
If you take it away, admittedly by mere mathematics, you see what would happen if there were no compensation.
Do we really think that somehow the intestines know to raise their absorption of alkali?
Why not?
They have about 10% of all of our neurons, and the brain communicates with the GI tract.
This is all for some future research. But what it tells us is that age itself, for reasons we do not as yet know, lowers urine pH. As a result uric acid stones become far more common, and the phosphate type of stone far less common.
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What Causes Kidney Stones
Your urine contains various waste products, including calcium, oxalate, and uric acid. Normally, they leave your body when you urinate. If your urine is too concentrated, meaning theres not enough liquid to dilute the waste products, they remain in your body and crystallize, forming kidney stones.
The underlying cause of kidney stones is that your body doesnt have enough liquid to flush out crystal-forming substances. Theres no single cause, but various factors can result in this condition.
It’s Not One And Done
Passing a kidney stone is often described as one of the most painful experiences a person can have, but unfortunately, it’s not always a one-time event. Studies have shown that having even one stone greatly increases your chances of having another. “Most people will want to do anything they can to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” said Dr. Jhagroo. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be the case that people make the changes they need to after their first stone event.”
Research conducted by Dr. Jhagroo shows that those with kidney stones do not always heed the advice of their nephrologists and urinary specialists. About 15% of kidney stone patients didn’t take prescribed medications and 41% did not follow the nutritional advice that would keep stones from recurring. Without the right medications and diet adjustments, stones can come back, and recurring kidney stones also could be an indicator of other problems, including kidney disease.
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Male Signs Of Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are considered as hard collections of minerals and salt that are made up of uric acid and calcium. They are developed inside kidney and are also able to travel up to the other parts of the urinary tract. These stones use to vary in size they can be as small as of one-inch dimension whereas others can grow up to a few inches. The sad truth is that some of these can grow as high as to cover the entire kidney.
Experts reveal that kidney stones are developed when few body minerals get accumulated in urine. It happens when your body gets too dehydrated, and concentration of minerals reaches a higher level in urine. More minerals have the ability to form a stone in the kidney. As per some recent stats, at least one out of 11 people is suffering from kidney stones in the United States and this disease is common in men, especially those who are suffering from diabetes or are obese.
Medical health experts reveal that presence of smaller kidney stones in kidney does not cause any major symptom. A person starts noticing some trouble only when the stones move to the ureter, a tube that helps urine to travel from kidney to bladder in your body. Kidney stones are very painful generally, most of these stones come out of the body without any special treatment, but the larger ones are required to be broken up and removed with medicinal procedures.
What Can I Do To Prevent Kidney Stones
Since your habits are a common contributor to kidney stones, you can reduce your risk of kidney stone by changing your habits for the better.
If youre overweight or obese, Dr. Herman will likely recommend losing excess weight. Overall, its a good idea to eat a healthier diet and drink more water, enough to pass clear or mostly clear urine. However, its also important to pay special attention to which foods are high in oxalate, which can lead to kidney stone formation. We can help you follow a diet plan that leaves you feeling full and satisfied while avoiding foods that increase your risk.
To get help preventing or treating kidney stones make an appointment with Dr. Herman at the Urology Center of Florida today.
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How Are Children Treated For Kidney Stones
Most childrens kidney stones can be treated with the shock wave lithotripsy , a completely non-invasive procedure. Your child is placed under anesthesia and sound waves of specific frequencies are focused on the stones to shatter them into fragments small enough to be easily passed during urination.
It Is Not Loss Of Kidney Function
Here is another graph. Kidney function was measured using creatinine clearance, a common measure.
It went down with age.
But, it began to fall after urine pH had already fallen quite a bit. In other words, the one was not correlated with the other very well. Correlation is not causation, but the other way around is true. Things that are not correlated are not often related causally.
A more elegant approach is to do another of the multi-variable analyses, which we did. The graph on the right, just above, shows that urine pH fell more or less the same if you did or did not adjust for kidney function. So, it is not BMI and not kidney function.
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When Life Hands You Kidney Stones
And as the saying goes, “make lemonade.” It’s important to consider dietary remedies alongside prescription medications.
Next time you drive past a lemonade stand, consider your kidneys. Chronic kidney stones are often treated with an alkali citrate, such as potassium citrate to help prevent certain stones, if urine citrate is low and urine pH levels are too low . Citrus juices do contain citrate , but large amounts might be needed. Also, be careful of sugar. Lemon juice concentrate mixed with water can be considered. Alkali citrate can be prescribed and is available over-the-counter. Alkali citrate can be given with a mineral, such as sodium, potassium or magnesium to help prevent stone formation. The aim is to increase urine citrate and increase urine pH . The goal is to keep pH in balance. Speak with a doctor or other healthcare professional about which treatment options are right for you, including over-the-counter products and home remedies. People with kidney disease may need to watch their intake of sodium, potassium or other minerals, depending on the stage of kidney disease or other factors.
Take Steps To Bypass Kidney Stones
Even though kidney stones can be common and recur once youve had them, there are simple ways to help prevent them. Here are some strategies that can help:
1. Drink enough water. A 2015 meta-analysis from the National Kidney Foundation found that people who produced 2 to 2.5 liters of urine daily were 50% less likely to develop kidney stones than those who produced less. It takes about 8 to 10 8-ounce glasses of water daily to produce that amount.
2. Skip high-oxalate foods. Such foods, which include spinach, beets, and almonds, obviously raise oxalate levels in the body. However, moderate amounts of low-oxalate foods, such as chocolate and berries, are okay.
3. Enjoy some lemons. Citrate, a salt in citric acid, binds to calcium and helps block stone formation. “Studies have shown that drinking ½ cup of lemon juice concentrate diluted in water each day, or the juice of two lemons, can increase urine citrate and likely reduce kidney stone risk,” says Dr. Eisner.
4. Watch the sodium. A high-sodium diet can trigger kidney stones because it increases the amount of calcium in your urine. Federal guidelines suggest limiting total daily sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams . If sodium has contributed to kidney stones in the past, try to reduce your daily sodium to 1,500 mg.
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What Are The Most Common Types Of Kidney Stones
The most common type of kidney stone is a calcium oxalate stone. This type happens when calcium and oxalate combine in your urine. It can happen when you have high quantities of oxalate, low amounts of calcium and arent drinking enough fluids.
Stones caused by uric acid are also fairly common. These come from a natural substance called purine, which is a byproduct of animal proteins .
It Is Not The Getting Fatter
We get fatter with age. Everyone knows that. Not everyone does it, but on average we all do. I suppose it is less exercise and too much food, but we are not studying this matter here, now.
Below, you can see body mass index rising with age in this very large set of data patient lab
studies. It goes up in men and women, and it goes up very rapidly between 33 or younger and 50.
But, if you adjust for the BMI, the urine pH fall is not affected.
The urine pH falls about the same in both sexes. Compare the graph just to your left with the one just above.
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Diabetes And Insulin Resistance
All of the forgoing was a large scale population effect. Within that population were certainly people with diabetes or insulin resistance. They cannot account for what we found because most of the fall in urine pH occurred rather young, at a time when the sheer prevalence of diabetes has not as yet risen so much.
But for many people, particularly those with serious obesity, or simply those over age 50, diabetes and insulin resistance are increasingly common. Both states lower urine pH, a lot, and cause uric acid stones. We have reviewed the main research work on this topic, that was done mainly by our colleagues in Dallas, Texas.
New onset uric acid stones can simply reflect the general age effect. But it may not be that. In the earlier stages of insulin resistance, insulin levels run high and common fasting blood glucose levels remain in the normal range. Usually they are at the top of the range, and the hemoglobin A1C is too high 5.9 or more. It is then that one is best off taking steps, like weight loss and major life changes.
Feeling Tired Or Sluggish During The Day
Everyone has a day when they feel tired maybe you didnt get enough sleep, or ate the wrong foods, or some other temporary factors are at play. But sometimes, fatigue is caused by lack of a hormone called erythropoietin, or EPO. The main function of EPO is to stimulate the production of red blood cells, and red blood cells carry energizing oxygen to cells throughout your body.
Stressed kidneys do not produce enough EPO, thereby reducing the number of red blood cells and making you feel weak and tired out.
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Middle Age And Kidney Stones Why Now
Middle age 45 65, not the usual time to form your first kidney stone. The average for new stone onset is 35, with a spread of about 12 years, so by 45 you might think the odds are in your favor. But not always. Sometimes they start late, even into your fifties or sixties. It doesnt matter some of the time. A stone is a stone. But older people get stones for a different spectrum of reasons than when young, so you have to think a bit about why.
The image, a self portrait by Jan van Eyck , was painted in 1433 in oil on panel. It hangs in the National Gallery, London.
This article is co-authored by me with Jill, but was her choice of topic. She is sure her patients will love it. I hope so.
Symptoms And Signs Of Kidney Stones In Men
Pain in the belly, back, and side:
Patients report too much discomfort due to a kidney stone. The pain caused by this medical health condition is named as renal colic, and it is listed as one of the most unbearable pains for humans. You can compare this pain almost equal to the pain that a mother faces at the time of childbirth or when a person is stabbed with a knife. Around 1 million patients are moved to an emergency ward in the hospital every year due to this intense pain.
This pain usually starts when stone starts moving into narrow ureter it leads to some blockage and generates unwanted pressure in the kidney area. This pressure activates various nerve fibers that are responsible for transmitting pain signals to the brain. Kidney stone pain can rise at any time, and it keeps on shifting its location as well as intensity as per movement of stone inside the body. Some patients also report a wavy pattern of this pain as sometimes it lasts for few minutes, disappears and then returns. This pain can be felt at the back, side, and right below the rib area. When the stones start moving in the urinary tract, the pain may also radiate in the groin and belly area. The severity of this pain depends upon the size of the stone, and the treatment must be applied accordingly.
Burning sensation or pain during urination:
Need to go bathroom frequently:
Noticing blood in urine:
Cloudy or smelly urine:
Disturbed flow of urine:
Nausea and Vomiting:
Inability to sit normally:
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