How to Prevent Kidney Stones

Video Transcript

"My name is Christine Marquette and I'm a registered dietitian with the Austin Regional Clinic and I am here to talk to you about how to prevent kidney stones. If you have never had kidney stones the best way to continue preventing yourself from developing them is to drink a lot of water. That is the best way to prevent the formation of kidney stones. What causes kidney stone formation is when you don't have enough fluid to flush out various minerals that can form stones. There are actually four major types of stones, calcium stones, stervite stones, uric stones and one stone that in particular is fairly rare and that particular stone is caused by hormonal imbalance but we will mainly talk about the calcium and the stervite and the uric acid stones. Calcium stones are usually formed by a formation of calcium oxalate and usually calcium is not usually the problem it is the oxalate that is the problem. So if you have already had kidney stones in the past you need to identify what kind of stone it was. Was it a calcium stone or a uric stone or a stervite stone? If it was a calcium stone you want to eliminate or very much reduce high oxalate foods and these would be foods such as rhubarb, beets, spinach, swiss char, sweet potatoes, soy, sesame seeds and almonds. Again those particular foods have a lot of oxalates in them and combined with calcium forms calcium stones. Uric acid stones are formed by a high consumption of protein, animal protein in particular so if you have had those types of stones you want to cut down on how much meat that you are eating because that is what actually is forming that particular stones. Stervite stones are actually caused by frequent urinary tract infections so a good way to avoid getting this type of stone is to make sure again you are drinking plenty of fluids but also to drink cranberry juice because that can greatly reduce your risk for developing urinary tract infections. Another good method is to make sure that you also include a glass of lemonade that is made with real lemons whether that is lemon juice from concentrate or fresh lemons. The reason why is because lemons actually increase the formation of citrate and citrate and citrate helps decrease the formation of stones because it prevents these little minerals from actually sticking together in your kidneys so it is another good method of preventing kidney stones. So again those are your major things. Look at what type of major stones you have had in the past and avoid those particular foods and make sure you are drinking a lot of water. So those are your tips for kidney stone prevention."