Diet to prevent kidney stones

It is very unpleasant to get kidney stones. An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. Stanley Goldfarb, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine says changes in diet can eliminate more than half of all stone recurrences.

If you are prone to kidney stones, take less or no meat as much of animal protein end up as calcium, oxalate and uric acid eventually turn to stone. Cut down on sodium. Alan G. Wasserstein, M.D., director of the Stone Evaluation Clinic at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania says restricting sodium slashes the amount of calcium in the urine and is one of the most effective things tha one can do. Paradoxically, one need not cut down on calcium as eating calcium does not dump as much calcium in the urine as eating protein does and actually boost oxalate in the urine. Dr. Gary Curhan of the Harvard's School of Public Health reported that men who ate the most calcium had a 34% lower risk of kidney stanes than those who ate the least calcium. Dr. Curhan believes that calcium ties up food oxalate in the intestines, preventing it from entering the bloodstream and traveling to the kidneys. And drink MORE WATER as water dilutes concentrations of minerals that can crystallize into stones.