According to the latest studies and research conducted in the field of kidney stones, it has been discovered that contrary to popular belief, calcium oxalate stone formation is not accelerated or facilitated by calcium intake through food or dairy products. For years doctors have been directing their kidney stone patients to avoid or decrease their intake of calcium rich dairy products and increase the intake of fluids to dilute the urine.
Recent research has in fact led doctors to advice their patients to increase their intake of Dairy products, which are our main source of calcium. Secondly, Calcium supplements, that were earlier thought to be beneficial and unrelated to kidney stone formation, have been found to increase the risk of developing kidney stones.
This study, conducted on 92,371 nurses, aged 34 to 59, revealed that out of all 864 developed kidney stones.
Women taking dietary calcium through food products were found to be 65% less likely to develop kidney stones as compared to women who consumed the least amount of dietary calcium. On the other hand, nurses who took calcium supplements were found to be at a 20% greater risk of developing kidney stones than women who didn’t. This may be so because taking calcium supplements adds too much calcium to the urine. Besides, some component or property of dairy products may help prevent or at least reduce the risk of kidney stone formation.
Doctors advice all people with a family history of Kidney stones to drink a lot of water to prevent dehydration, which may be a major cause for kidney stone formation. Doctors are also prescribing thiazide diuretics to prevent calcium oxalate stones. There is also evidence that a diet high n salt, meat or sugar may increase the risk for stone formation.
Researchers say that women should not necessarily give up taking calcium supplements. Such a decision should be taken only at the advice of your doctor. Women may develop several other health problems due to lack of enough calcium which makes these supplements necessary. These supplements should however be taken with lunch or dinner instead of breakfast. Avoid low-calcium diets and it will definitely help prevent calcium stones from forming
Kidney stone is a commonly found ailment these days that can come in any age group or any environment. Mostly, the kidney stones are painful that need immediate attention and proper care. Kidney stones are solid stones like the lumps within the kidneys that may move and block the urinary tract. The size and color of the stones vary. The stone may be as small as grains of sand and even be as large as the size of a golf ball. The number of stones may be one or more, it may be in hundreds too but such great number of stones is very rare to find.
The most common kinds of kidney stones are the ones that are deposited due to the deposit of calcium. There are numerous kinds of calcium stones, mostly the calcium stones are made from the result of absorptive Hypercalciuria; that is the state when the calcium is excreted in the urine because too much calcium is being absorbed from the intestines. In the absorptive calcium stones there are three types as follows:
• Stones which are independent of the calcium in diet.
• Stones that have dependency on the calcium included in diet are taken as a cause. These stones can be preventing by limiting the intake of calcium in diet.
• Stones that are developed due to phosphate loss into the urine, which causes more vitamin D to be made by the body, which in turn causes more Calcium to be absorbed by the intestine.
A kind of stones that are caused due to resorptive hypercalciria; a condition in which too much calcium is reabsorbed. This is due to Hyperparathyroidism. There are stones that are formed when the renal tubules are unable to deal with the calcium; these stones are called renal hypercalciuria stones. Hyperoxaluric Calcium stones are stones that are caused usually due to excess diarrhea or inflammatory bowel syndromes. It is a condition in which the calcium is not available in the intestine to blind oxalate as a result, it is absorbed and binds with calcium in urine to form calcium oxalate stones. The preventive measure to avoid this kind of stone is by keeping oneself hydrated adequately. Hypocitraturic Calcium stones are another kind of calcium stone in which there is insufficient supply of citrate to bind calcium so there is more calcium available to bind to other substances and make stones. The main cause of this kind of stones is chronic diarrhea. Calcium stones can also be formed due to over excretion of uric acid small uric acid crystals act as nucleus for calcium stones. It has been stated that intake of water and other fluids proves helpful in preventing all kinds of calcium kidney stones; so one should increase ones fluid intake and get proper check up for correct and timely diagnosis.
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