Featured Review:

Kidney stones usually form when your urine becomes too concentrated. This causes minerals and other substances in urine to form crystals on the inner surfaces of your kidneys. Over time, these crystals may combine to form a small, hard mass, or stone.

Most small kidney stones pass into your bladder without causing any permanent damage. Still, it's important to determine the underlying cause so that you don't form more stones in the future. In many cases, you can prevent kidney stones simply by drinking more water and making a few dietary changes.

In many cases, you can prevent kidney stones by making a few lifestyle changes. If these measures aren't effective and blood and urine tests reveal a correctable chemical imbalance or that the stones you have are getting bigger, your doctor may prescribe certain medications.

Lifestyle changes

For people with a history of kidney stones, doctors usually recommend passing at least 2.5 quarts of urine a day. To do this, you'll need to drink about 3.5 quarts (14 cups) of fluids every day — and even more if you live in a hot, dry climate.

In addition, if you tend to form calcium stones — a combination of calcium and oxalate — your doctor may recommend restricting foods rich in oxalates. These include rhubarb, star fruit, beets, beet greens, collards, okra, refried beans, spinach, Swiss chard, sweet potatoes, sesame seeds, almonds and soy products. What's more, studies show that an overall diet low in salt and very low in animal protein can greatly reduce your chance of developing kidney stones.

As a general rule, restricting your intake of calcium doesn't seem to lower your risk. In fact, researchers have found that women with the highest calcium intake are less likely to develop kidney stones than are women who consume less calcium. Why? Dietary calcium binds with oxalates in the gastrointestinal tract so that oxalates can't be absorbed from the intestine and excreted by the kidney to form stones.

Calcium supplements seem to have the same protective effect as dietary calcium, but only if they're taken with meals. When taken on an empty stomach, the calcium can't bind with the oxalates in food.

Medications
Medications can control the level of acidity or alkalinity in your urine and may be helpful in people who form certain kinds of stones. The type of medication your doctor prescribes will depend on the kind of kidney stones you have:

* Calcium stones.
* Uric acid stones.
* Struvite stones.
* Cystine stones. -

Lymph Cleanse Part 1

Coping with Kidney Disease: A 12-Step Treatment Program to Help You Avoid Dialysis $6.62 A revolutionary program that can indefinitely postpone the need for dialysisIf you've been diagnosed with kidney failure, this book could save your life. If you suffer from diabetes, hypertension, obesity, or any of a host of conditions that put you at risk for kidney disease, you owe it to yourself to read what is in this book. If you are among the 60,000 North Americans who go on dialysis each y...

The Low Oxalate Cookbook: Book 2 $32.00 ...

Nutrition hotline: this issue's Nutrition Hotline explains what kidney stones are, discusses which populations are most likely to develop them, and ... An article from: Vegetarian Journal $5.95 This digital document is an article from Vegetarian Journal, published by Thomson Gale on May 1, 2006. The length of the article is 615 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation DetailsTitle: Nutrition hot...