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photo credit: manda_wongThe DASH diet which is an eating plan that follows heart healthy guidelines to limit saturated fat and cholesterol, was found to reduce the incidence of kidney stones in an article published in the august issue of the Journal of the american society of nephrology.
The study was carried out because diet is thought to play a major, yet not entirely clear role in the development of kidney stones. The dash diet was chosen because it represents a novel potential means of preventing stone formation. The increased consumption of fruits and vegetables increases urinary citrate, which inhibits calcium stone formation with a normal to high calcium intake which decreases oxalate absorption from the intestines. However due to increased levels of vitamin C (which is also associated with kidney stone formation) the researchers were unclear if the diet would have an overall beneficial effect.
The study combined three large prexisting groups of patients over 50 years of follow up. The conclusions arrived at are therefore likely to be statistically sound.
The overall conclusion of the study was that a diet high in fruits and vegetables moderate in low-fat dairy products and low in animal protein (which has been essentially replaced by plant protein including legumes and nuts) decreased the risk of kidney stone formation.
Importantly this statement was independent of age, body size, hypertension, diabetes, total caloric intake, fluid intake, caffeine and alcohol intake.
Therefore one of the most important things you can do to prevent kidneys stones is to have a healthy diet along the guidelines that have previously been put forward, see the DASH diet PDF download at the start of the article.
[...] KIDNEY STONE PREVENTION To decrease the chances of another kidney stone:- You need to determine the cause of the first stone and treat the problem. This is accomplished by analysing the stone to determine its primary component. General measures such as increased fluid intake to dilute the urine and flush the kidney. Making the urine more alkaline with lime juice or citric acid in select cases. Dietary changes. Surveillance with CT scan or IVP for new stones that have not yet caused a problem is possible. The smaller the stone the easier to treat. Using the DASH diet. [...]
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