Do's & Don’t for People Living with Kidney Stones

Nephrolithiasis or kidney stone disease has become a common disease in India. Nearly 12% of the Indian population is affected by kidney stone disease and 50% of them may end up with total renal damage leading to the loss of the kidneys. Kidney stones surgery has known to yield successful results on stone removal. But only 2% of the Indian populace opt for surgery due to ignorance and neglect, leading to irreparable kidney loss. Consulting an expert kidney stones specialist can save the patient their kidneys and improve their quality of life.

What is kidney stone disease?

Kidney stone disease  is a kidney ailment that is caused by the formation of hard crystalline structure or tone due to the accumulation of the waste minerals in the urine. Kidney stone disease can be very painful as it causes severe stabbing pain in the back or while passing urine.

Kidney stone disease affects people between 30-60 years of age. The extreme pain caused by kidney stones is called "renal colic" and it affects 10-20% of the men and 3-5% of the women in India. Most of the kidney stones are formed from calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate crystals due to environmental and metabolic conditions.

Symptoms of kidney stone disease

Kidney stone disease is characterized by the following symptoms.

• Extreme pain in the side or lower back
• Blood in the urine
• Nausea and vomiting
• Fever and chills
• Cloudy or foul-smelling urine

If left untreated, kidney stone disease can be extremely painful and cause bleeding followed by other acute health issues like kidney scarring, renal failure and even septicemia or blood poisoning. This is why it is very important to instantly consult a top kidney stones specialist without further delay in experiencing any of the above symptoms.

Nutrition for kidney stones patients

Renal calculi or kidney stones are formed due to obesity, high fat, animal protein or salt intake, dehydration, improper diet with high content of oxalate or phosphate and vitamin abnormalities, metabolic diseases like cystinuria, gout, intestine dysfunction etc. But among all these factors,  an unbalanced and improper diet prevail as the predominant cause for kidney stone disease. This is why nephrologists and urology speciality doctors  emphasize the importance of nutrition for kidney stones prevention.

Patients with kidney stone disease must take the following steps to prevent the formation of  these renal calculi.

1. Drink lots of water
2. Limit intake of salt or sodium
3. Limit intake of animal protein
4. Consume adequate calcium
5. Avoid foods that cause stone formation.

It is better for kidney stones patients to consult a kidney stones specialist or urology speciality doctors  and get a detailed Kidney stones diet plan chalked out for them like the one below.

Kidney stones diet plan

Patients with kidney stones are advised to follow the DASH diet that help to prevent chronic kidney disease, heart disease and hypertension. 

Type of Food	Eat	Avoid/ Limit
Cereal and food grains	Brown rice, Quinoa	Wheat bran, Buckwheat, Barley, Whole wheat
Vegetables	All gourds, okra, pea, beans	Beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, parsley, celery, rhubarb, asparagus, spinach
Fruits	Watery fruits like watermelon,  cantaloupe, apple,	Guava, berries, apricot, kiwi, grapefruit
Milk products	Skimmed milk, tofu, Soy milk	Hard cheese,
Animal food	Lean meat, Chicken Breast, Tuna, Salmon	Pork, Red meat, Seafood
Nut, seeds, legumes	Chia seeds	Almond, cashews, peanuts, sesame, and sunflower or poppy seeds
Oil and fats	Olive oil, Mus3tard oil, Rice bran oil	Sesame oil, Groundnut oil
Sugar and sugary food	Stevia	Chocolate, sugar, carob ice cream
Beverages	Green tea. Water- 12 glasses per day.	Tea. coffee, colas

 

Given below is the daily DASH diet for a daily intake limited to 2000 calories per day.

Type of Food	Servings per day	Serving size
Cereal and food grains	6-8	1 bread slice 1/2 cup of cooked rice, pasta or cereal
Vegetables	4-5	1 cup leafy vegetable 1/2 cup cooked vegetable 1/2 cup vegetable juice
Fruits	4-5	1 medium fruit, 1/2 cup frozen or fresh fruit. 1/2 cup fruit juice
Milk products	2-3	1 oz milk or yoghurt,  1/2 oz. cheese
Animal food	<6	1 egg, 1 oz fish or cooked lean meat or poultry
Nut, seeds, legume	4-5	1/3 cup nut, 2 tbsp seeds, 1/2 cup cooked legumes
Oil and fats	2-3	1 tsp vegetable oil, 1tbsp mayonnaise, 2 tbsp salad dressing, 1 tsp margarine
Sugar and sugary food	<5	1 tbsp sugar, 1tbsp jam or jelly, 1/2 cup sorbet or fruit juice.

 

Kidney stone disease can be easily prevented with regulated diet, regular exercise and timely consultation with a kidney stone specialist or urology speciality doctor.