7 Ways To Take Care Of Your Kidneys And Avoid Stones

Kidney Stones: Maybe you already know that an excess of protein overloads the kidneys. We clarify other questions.

1. Don’t Spend a Lot of Time Sitting

A study from the University of Leicester has shown that it is especially bad in women. According to this work:

• Those who sat less than three hours a day had a lower risk (30% less) developing chronic kidney disease.
• Those who spent more than 8 hours in that position were those with the highest risk.

2. Avoid Excess Sugar

Sugar used to be unrelated to kidney health. Still, now a review of studies suggests that added sugars, particularly fructose, can increase blood pressure and heart rate and contribute to inflammation and resistance to insulin.

As a consequence, the kidneys can also be affected. Also, maintaining high blood glucose levels, in the long run, can impair the kidneys, which will not do their job well.

3. Glutamate Doesn’t Sit Well With Them

This additive (also called E621) is present in many processed foods (broth tablets, snacks, sausages, precooked, etc.).

Insensitive people can cause “Chinese restaurant syndrome,” which causes pressure on the temples and headache and excessive appetite. Some research has shown that it could also be toxic to various organs, especially the brain, liver, and kidneys.

4. Remember to Drink Water

If you don’t take enough, the substances that end up forming stones are concentrated. Instead, drinking 2 liters (better mineral water) increases the volume of urine, facilitating the elimination of crystals.

• If you drink correctly, the urine is clear and does not have a strong odor.
• Infusions are also suitable, but not tea, because it contains oxalic acid (favors the formation of calcium oxalate stones), soft drinks and commercial juices.

5. Is Spinach Suitable?

Sometimes you have to avoid them. For example, people with a tendency to form calcium oxalate stones should not take them often.

• Instead, they have to ensure a good supply of calcium because when they coincide with the intestine with oxalic acid, they form calcium oxalate eliminated with the feces.

6. Beware of Vitamin C Supplements

They are not recommended if you tend to form oxalate stones, since vitamin C is converted to oxalate in the body.

• Instead, it is convenient for them to take a fruit rich in vitamin C daily (since it will not exceed the recommended daily dose) because it provides citrates. This compound prevents the union between calcium and oxalic acid.

7. Don’t Abuse Antacids

It has been proven that, if taken for a long time, they can damage the kidneys.

• Antibiotics have also been shown to promote “stone” formation.

8. Did You Know That From the Age of 50, We Should Take More Diuretic Foods?

From this age, there is more risk of stones, especially in women. It is mainly because it goes through a period in which the decrease in estrogens can cause the appearance of different symptoms, physical, emotional, and psychological.

And also, it seems that it increases the risk of having kidney stones.

• One of the reasons why this occurs is that in postmenopausal women two factors usually coincide that can increase, in some cases, the risk of “stones”: on the one hand, bone decalcification associated with the decrease of estrogens and, on the other hand, another, the medication that is usually given to treat osteoporosis (calcium and vitamin D supplements).
• On the other hand, hormone replacement therapy is often prescribed, which also seems to affect it negatively. A study of more than 24,000 postmenopausal women published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that those who took hormones were at a 21% higher risk of kidney stones over five years than those ingested only placebo.