What are kidney stones?
Kidney stones are hard, pebble-like substances that form when one or both of certain minerals are at high levels in your urine. A small kidney stone may cause little or no pain as it passes through your urinary tract. A larger kidney stone can get stuck in the urinary tract. If a kidney stone becomes stuck, it can block your urine flow, causing severe pain or bleeding.
What are the symptoms of kidney stones?
Kidney stone symptoms include:
Sharp pains in your back, side, lower abdomen, or groin
Pink, red, or brown blood in your urine, also called hematuria
Constant need to urinate
Pain when urinating
Inability to urinate or only urinating small amounts
>Cloudy or foul-smelling urine
See a healthcare professional immediately if you have any of these symptoms. These symptoms may mean that you have kidney stones or a more serious condition.
Why do kidney stones occur?
Low urine volume
Not consuming enough water or fluids may cause kidney stones. may cause formation. Insufficient fluid intake causes the kidneys to produce less urine and produce highly concentrated, dark urine. Highly concentrated urine means there is less fluid to keep the salts dissolved. Increasing fluid intake will dilute the salts in your urine and reduce your risk of stone formation.
The less a person's daily urine volume, the higher their risk of forming kidney stones. Low urine volume; It may be caused by dehydration (loss of body fluids) resulting from strenuous exercise, working or living in a hot place, or not drinking enough fluids.
Nutrition
According to the National Kidney Foundation, frequent consumption of foods containing high amounts of salt, sugar and fructose is a factor that increases the risk of kidney stones.
High calcium in the urine also causes kidney stones. It is one of the most common causes. It doesn't always depend on how much calcium you eat. It also varies depending on the body's use of calcium. Lowering the amount of calcium in your diet rarely prevents stone formation. It stops it. Studies have shown that restricting dietary calcium may be bad for bone health and increase the risk of kidney stones.
Too much salt in the diet is a risk factor for calcium stones. Too much salt in the urine prevents calcium from passing from the urine back into the blood. Reducing salt in the diet increases the passage of calcium in the urine into the blood and lowers the calcium in the urine. The likelihood of calcium stones forming is reduced.
Because oxalate is a component of the most common type of kidney stones (calcium oxalate), consuming foods rich in oxalates (chocolate, beets, nuts, tea, spinach, chard, sweet potatoes) can increase your risk of forming these stones. .
A diet high in animal protein such as beef, fish, and chicken can increase acid levels in the body and urine. High acid levels make it easier for calcium oxalate and uric acid stones to form. The breakdown of meat into uric acid increases the likelihood of formation of both calcium and uric acid stones.
Obesity
Obesity is a factor that increases the risk of kidney stones. Obesity can change the acid levels in the urine, leading to stone formation.
Other
Infections, family history (is there a family history of kidney stones?), medications are among other risk factors.
How many types of kidney stones are there?
If you find out that you have kidney stones, be sure to ask your doctor which type of kidney stone you have. Depending on the type of kidney stone, your dietitian will regulate your diet by paying attention to the sodium, animal protein, calcium and oxalate contents of the foods you eat. You can also make changes in your diet by reading the nutrition section for kidney stone patients below. Because kidney stones increase the risk of chronic kidney disease. If you have a stone, your risk of having another stone increases. Individuals who develop a stone in their kidney have an approximately 50% chance of developing another stone within 5 to 7 years.
There are four main types of kidney stones:
Calcium stones
Calcium oxalate stones and calcium phosphate stones are the most common types of kidney stones. Contrary to popular belief, calcium in foods does not increase the risk of calcium oxalate stones. Excess calcium that is not normally used by your bones and muscles goes to your kidneys and is excreted in the urine. When this event does not occur, calcium remains in the kidneys and combines with other waste products to form kidney stones.
Uric acid stones
When the acidity of your urine becomes too high, that is, the urine pH becomes acidic. In this case, uric acid stones may form. Eating too much fish, shellfish, and meat, especially organ meats, can increase uric acid in the urine. Foods such as organ meats and shellfish are rich in purines. However, consumption of high amounts of purine leads to the production of monosodium urate, which can form stones in the kidneys.
Struvite stones
Struvite stones may form after having a urinary tract infection. They can develop suddenly and grow rapidly.
Cystine stones
Cystine stones are caused by a disease called cystinuria. Cystinuria causes the amino acid cystine to leak from your kidneys into your urine. As a result, cystine stones form.
How should I eat when I find out that I have kidney stones?
1- Drink enough fluid to produce at least 2.5 liters of urine per day.
In the American Urological Association's medical management guide for kidney stones, approved in 2019, it is recommended that individuals with kidney stones should reach a daily urine volume of at least 2.5 liters. Kidney stone is a disease caused by increased concentration of stone-forming salts in the urine. Fluid intake is the main determinant of urine volume, and therefore high fluid intake is a critical component of stone prevention. Because of losses in nutrients and varying fluid intake, a universal recommendation for total fluid intake is not appropriate. Instead, it should be tailored to the patient using information about the total volume obtained from 24-hour urine totals.
2- Total daily calcium intake of those with calcium stones and those with high urine calcium should be 1000-1200 mg. However, it should not exceed 1000-1200 mg.
It is actually recommended for healthy adults. The minimum calcium requirement is 1000-1200 mg. Contrary to popular belief, it is wrong that individuals with calcium stones should take less calcium. In the case of calcium oxalate stones, oxalate absorption and urinary oxalate excretion increase when dietary oxalate intake with low calcium intake encounters insufficient calcium in the intestine. (5) Because oxalate binds with calcium before entering the kidneys in a healthy individual and its amount in the urine does not increase. The risk of calcium oxalate stones increases in low calcium intake.
In addition, calcium is excreted from the large intestine with feces in a healthy individual (it is very little found in urine.) When there is not enough water in the body or the amount of salt increases, the amount of both oxalate and calcium in the urine increases and Again, the risk of stone formation increases. Cohort studies have also shown that the calcium RDA value, defined as 1,000-1,200 mg / day for most adults, is associated with a lower risk of kidney stones.
You can calculate the calcium you take with your diet. Here are the amounts of calcium found in 1 serving of some foods:
Cow's milk full fat (240 g): 288 mg
Yoghurt full fat (240 g): 312 mg
Kefir full fat (240 g): 288 mg
Ayran (350 g): 256 mg
Feta cheese full fat (60 g): 240 mg
>Full fat cheddar cheese (40 g): 240 mg
(Taken from Tüber 2015 data.)
3- Sodium consumption should be limited.
When sodium consumption increases, the kidneys Your risk of developing stones increases. Sodium is a component of salt. Generally, foods with added salt, such as packaged foods and fast food, have high sodium content. Adults should try to get less than 2300 mg of sodium per day. One teaspoon of table salt contains 2325 mg sodium. The goal of consuming a maximum of only 1 teaspoon of salt per day may seem like a difficult goal at first. However, it is possible to achieve this goal by gradually reducing it. You can start by trying not to add additional salt to your food or reducing your consumption of packaged products.
4- Those who have calcium oxalate stones and those with high urine oxalate levels should limit the consumption of oxalate-rich foods.
High urine oxalate levels. It increases the risk of kidney stones. List some foods that contain high levels of oxalates: Peanuts, spinach, beets, chard, chocolate and sweet potatoes are just some of them. These and similar foods with high oxalate content should be limited, but we should still avoid very low oxalate diets. Because some foods considered "high" in oxalates (for example, various fruits and vegetables) also have other health benefits.
5- Foods rich in oxalates should be consumed together with calcium-containing foods such as milk, yoghurt and cheese.
Oxalate and calcium in foods are more likely to bind together in the stomach and intestines before entering the kidneys. This will prevent oxalates and calcium from rising in the urine and reduce the likelihood of kidney stones forming.
6- Those who have uric acid stones or calcium stones and those who have high levels of uric acid in their urine should limit their intake of non-dairy animal protein.
Red meat, offal meats and shellfish contain high amounts of purine. It has content. High purine intake leads to higher uric acid production and more uric acid excretion from the kidneys. Higher uric acid excretion also leads to high acidity urine. High acidity of urine paves the way for the formation of uric acid stones.
For uric acid stones, reduce high-purine foods such as red meat, offal, beer / alcoholic beverages, meat-based sauces, sardines, anchovies and shellfish. Follow a healthy diet plan that includes mostly vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products. Limit sugar-sweetened foods and drinks, especially those containing high fructose corn syrup. Limit alcohol and avoid short-term diets because these can increase uric acid levels in the blood. Reducing animal-based protein and eating more fruits and vegetables helps reduce urine acidity, which can help reduce the likelihood of uric acid stone formation.
With this information, we can see that the role of nutrition in people with kidney stones is very important. If kidney stone patients can pay attention to the above-mentioned items from the moment of initial diagnosis or consult a dietician, they will be at risk of new stone formation and chronic kidney disease.
Read: 0
