'DASH-style' Diet Can Help Keep Kidney Stones at Bay

A diet designed to prevent high blood pressure reduces the risk of developing kidney stones, a new study has found.

The results suggest how low-fat dairy products and/or plants may have potent kidney stone-fighting properties.

Kidney Stones / Renal Stones - Causes - Symptoms - Diagnosis - Treatment - FAQs
A kidney stone is a solid mass made up of tiny crystals and may appear in any area of the urinary system.

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet-which is high in fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, dairy products, and whole grains and is low in sweetened beverages and red and processed meats-effectively lowers blood pressure.

Research by Eric Taylor, MD (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Maine Medical Center) and his colleagues also now suggests that a DASH-style diet reduces one's risk of developing kidney stones.

The investigators studied 24-hour urine samples of 3426 individuals with and without a history of kidney stones in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) and the Nurses' Health Studies (NHS) I and II. The study participants were part of a previous, larger study where Dr.

Diet for Kidney Stones
Diet for kidney stone should comprise of calcium-rich foods, increased fluid intake. Other dietary recommendations depends on the type of kidney stone.

Taylor reported that a DASH-style diet was associated with a reduced risk of kidney stone formation. HPFS and NHS I and II are large studies of the lifestyle practices and health of both male and female health care workers.

Individuals who followed a DASH-style diet excreted more urine than individuals who did not follow the diet, despite similar fluid intake. The researchers speculate that higher urinary volumes were, at least partly, a result of the higher food water content in a DASH-style diet.

Kidney Stones in children - Can Children Get Kidney Stones?
Increase in salt concentration in the urine results in precipitation of crystals and these lead to formation of kidney stones. Drinking a lot of water can prevent kidney stones.

Also, the urine of DASH consumers contained a higher concentration of citrate, an important inhibitor of calcium stones, than the urine of others in the analysis. The study also indicated that there may be other important, and perhaps as of yet unidentified, kidney stone inhibitors in dairy products and/or plants.

Dr. Taylor's data suggest that a DASH-style diet could be important for keeping stones from reappearing in people who suffer from them.

Stones in Urinary Tract - Management and Prevention
Ask people who have suffered from urinary stones and they will tell you how excruciating the pain can be!

"We believe our results provide a strong rationale for a randomized trial examining the effect of a DASH-style diet on kidney stone recurrence," the authors said.

The study appears in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

Source-ANI