03/04/2021
How to Prevent Kidney Stones:
Increasing fluid intake and making dietary lifestyle changes can prevent future stones or at least reduce the incidence of kidney stone disease.
High fluids intake is the most important factor for preventing kidney stone disease and for every 200 mL of water, the risk of stones is reduced by 13%.
From the National Kidney Foundation;
General Recommendations to prevent or at least reduce the incidence of kidney stones include:
1. Drink plenty of fluid: 2.5 - 3 liters/day
• Try to drink at least 2.5 liters of fluids a day. Water is best, although juice (other than grapefruit juice) and other beverages can add to the total.
• This includes any type of fluid such as water, and lemonade which have been shown to have a beneficial effect with the exception of grapefruit juice and soda. Citrous fruits have been shown to be advantageous as citrate has been shown to reduce aggregation of crystals in forming stones.
• Limit your intake of caffeine-containing beverages like coffee, tea, and cola to one or two cups a day, since caffeine acts as a diuretic, causing your body to lose fluids too quickly. These beverages also contain oxalates.
• A good gauge of whether or not you are drinking enough fluids is urine color. Except for the first thing in the morning—when urine tends to be more concentrated—it should be pale in color. If your urine is dark yellow, that's an indication to drink more fluids.
• The other good gauge is thirst. If you are thirsty it would usually mean that you have inadequate fluid intake.
• This will help produce less concentrated urine and ensure a good urine volume of at least 2.5L/day
• If you are hesitant to drink too much during the day because you have a bladder control problem, discuss this concern with your doctor.
2. Limit foods with high oxalate content
• Spinach, many berries, chocolate, wheat bran, nuts, beets, tea and rhubarb should be eliminated from your diet intake
3. Eat enough dietary calcium
• Three servings of dairy per day will help lower the risk of calcium stone formation. Eat with meals.
4. Avoid extra calcium supplements
• Calcium supplements should be individualized by your physician and registered kidney dietitian
5. Eat a moderate amount of protein
• High protein intakes will cause the kidneys to excrete more calcium therefore this may cause more stones to form in the kidney
6. Avoid high salt intake
• High sodium intake increases calcium in the urine which increases the chances of developing stones
• Low salt diet is also important to control blood pressure.
7. Avoid high doses of vitamin C supplements
• It is recommend to take 60mg/day of vitamin C based on the US Dietary Reference Intake
• Excess amounts of 1000mg/day or more may produce more oxalate in the body
For more detailed discussions on this, see the following link:
Prevention of Kidney Stones, a brief summary - Urologist Selangor Dr Rajeentheran
