Friday, April 3, 2015

Drinking Water Helps Prevent Kidney Stones

Drinking plenty of water will lower your risk of kidney stones, researchers report.

“This analysis shows that drinking water is an effective way to cut one’s risk for developing kidney stones in half,” Kerry Willis, chief scientific officer at the National Kidney Foundation, said in a foundation news release.

“Kidney stones cause significant discomfort and cost, along with a potential to contribute to the development of kidney disease, so confirmation of reducing risk through improved hydration is an important finding,” Willis added.

The current research looked at nine previous studies that included nearly 274,000 people. More than 550 people had a history of kidney stones.

The review found that people who produced 2 to 2.5 liters of urine were 50% less likely to form kidney stones than those who produced less urine. That amount of urine production is associated with drinking about eight to ten 8-ounce glassed of water a day, according to the researchers.

The study was presented Thursday at a National Kidney Foundation meeting in Dallas.



“Increased fluid intake had long been suggested as a simple strategy for preventing kidney stones. This large meta-analysis provides further support for this intervention to reduce the risk of kidney stones,” Dr. Wisit Cheungpasitporn, of the Mayo Clinic, said in a foundation news release.

About one in 10 people in the United States develop kidney stones, the kidney foundation reported.

My Take:
I have had a kidney stone and “significant discomfort” is a real understatement. It is pain like I have never experienced before.

Kidney stones most often form from metastrophic calcification – mineral deposit due to metabolic error. The chemistry of the body malfunctions and kidney stones are one of the results. Calcium oxalate stones form when the metabolism of vitamin C and the B vitamins is corrupted. Commonly this is causes by massive vitamin C supplementation and B vitamin deficiency.

Water is the universal solvent. It is the medium in which all the body’s chemistry takes place. If you are dehydrated, the chemical components are too concentrated and can crystallize out of solution into stones.

I use a simple formula for water intake – ½ ounce per pound of body weight. So if you weight 150 pounds, you need 75 ounces of water per day. That’s close to the research recommendation of 8-10 eight ounce glasses. However, if you weight more, you need more.

If you exercise daily, then increase that amount. My personal formula is just to drink a lot of water. I have 16 ounces first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. I drink water throughout the day and always during exercise. When cycling, I consume a minimum of 48 ounces every 25 miles or so.

The Bottom Line:
Monitor your water intake until you have developed a habit of drinking plenty of water each day. I drink distilled water whenever possible to reduce the hazardous chemicals that are in our water supply.

Source: March 27, 2015 National Institutes of Health

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