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An Apple a Day Keeps Kidney Stones Away
Reported August 17, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Yet another reason to eat well -- a healthy
diet helps prevent kidney stones. Loading up on fruits, vegetables, nuts,
low-fat dairy products, and whole grains, while limiting salt, red and
processed meats, and sweetened beverages is an effective way to ward off
kidney stones, according to a new study. Because kidney stones are linked to
higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, increased body weight, and other
risk factors for heart disease, the findings have considerable health
implications.
Eric Taylor, MD of Maine Medical Center and his colleagues at Brigham and
Women's Hospital conducted a study to determine the effects of healthy
eating on the formation of kidney stones. The investigators collected
information from individuals enrolled in three clinical studies. In the
Health Professionals Follow-up Study, 45,821 men were followed for 18 years;
the Nurses' Health Study I followed 94,108 older women for 18 years; and the
Nurses' Health Study II followed 101,837 younger women for 14 years.
Dr. Taylor's team assigned a score to each participant based on eight
components of a DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) style diet:
high intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, low-fat dairy products,
and whole grains, and low intake of salt, sweetened beverages, and red and
processed meats.
A total of 5,645 kidney stones developed in the participants in the three
studies. In each study, participants with the highest DASH scores were
between 40 and 45 percent less likely to develop kidney stones than
participants with the lowest DASH scores. The reductions in kidney stone
risk were independent of age, body size, fluid intake, and other factors.
Because a DASH-style diet may affect the development of hypertension,
diabetes, and other chronic diseases associated with kidney stones, the
researchers also performed an analysis limited to study participants without
hypertension or diabetes. Even among those individuals, the DASH diet
reduced the risk of kidney stones.
This study indicates that adopting a DASH-style diet may be an effective
alternative to medications used to treat kidney stones, many of which have
unpleasant side effects.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN), August 13, 2009 |
