Preventing Kidney stones

from Medscape

The dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) diet may help protect against kidney stones according to the results of a prospective study reported online August 13 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

"Despite previously observed associations between individual dietary factors and kidney stone risk, relatively few studies have examined the impact of overall diet or dietary patterns on risk," write Eric N Taylor, M.D., from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, and colleagues.

"The DASH diet, which is high in fruits and vegetables, moderate in low-fat dairy products, and low in animal protein represents a novel potential means of kidney stone prevention. The consumption of fruits and vegetables increase urinary citrate, an important inhibitor of calcium stone formation, and a diet with normal to high calcuim content but low in animal protein and sodium decreases the risk of oxalate stone recurrence by 51%," the researchers state.