TUESDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- Modifying total daily caloric intake, reducing the amount of meat intake, and consuming more fresh fruit and fiber may reduce the risk of kidney stones, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association, held from May 14 to 19 in Washington, D.C.
Thomas Chi, M.D., of the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues used data from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study and identified 78,551 participants who were included based on data related to diet, body mass index, and occurrence of symptomatic nephrolithiasis. The investigators found that total caloric intake conferred an independent increased risk for nephrolithiasis.
In another study, Benjamin Turney, M.D., of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues evaluated 50,617 participants in the Oxford arm of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Project. During the follow-up period, 202 patients were diagnosed with kidney stones. Compared to individuals with a high meat diet, the investigators found the incidence rate ratios of developing stones was 0.71 for moderate meat eaters, 0.52 for low meat eaters and fish eaters, and 0.53 for and vegetarians. In addition, diets high in fresh fruit, fiber, magnesium, iron, and potassium were associated with a reduction in kidney stone risk. Other studies found that the use of statins and antioxidants may reduce risk of kidney stone formation and that fat distribution as well as metabolic hormonal make-up play a role in kidney stone formation.
"Diets that contain a high amount of meat may be associated with an increased risk of developing kidney stones. Conversely, a high intake of fresh fruit and fiber and certain minerals may reduce the risk. This information may be important to help prevent the development of kidney stones," Turney and colleagues write.
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