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If you’ve ever had a kidney stone, you know they can be pretty painful. And 1 in 2 people who have a kidney stone will have another one within 5 years.
The good news is that small changes to your diet can help you lower your risk of getting kidney stones. We’ll talk about foods that cause a kidney stone and foods that may help prevent them.
How is diet related to kidney stones?
Most of the minerals in your body come from the foods you eat. When certain mineral levels in your blood become high, they can clump together in your kidneys as they filter those minerals out of the blood. And this clump can form into a kidney stone.
There are several different types of kidney stones. Each type is affected by your diet in different ways. These include:
Calcium stones: These are the most common type of kidney stones. And there are two types: calcium oxalate (more common) and calcium phosphate.
Uric acid stones: This type is more likely to form when your urine is acidic.
Cystine stones: These are much less common and happen with a genetic disorder called cystinuria.
Struvite stones: This form can appear in people who have frequent urinary tract infections.
The most common types of stones are calcium or uric acid stones. You can reduce your risk of getting them by making some changes to your diet.
What foods can cause kidney stones?
Certain foods are more likely to cause kidney stones than others. Limiting these substances in foods is helpful for any type of stone but more so with calcium stones.
Sodium
Salt is made up of sodium and chloride. And the sodium component can play a big role in kidney health. To lessen your sodium intake, you need to reduce your salt intake. You can find high amounts of salt in:
- Canned foods like beans or vegetables sold in cans
- Processed foods like pizza, crackers, or macaroni and cheese
- Cured foods like hams or pepperoni
- Prepared foods like meals at a restaurant
Animal Protein
Protein helps keep your body working at its best. But it is best to stick to the daily recommended amount, which is 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. As an example, a 200 pound person should eat about 90 grams of protein per day.
Your risk of stones may grow when you eat more than the recommended amount. This is especially true for animal protein, which includes:
- Beef
- Pork
- Poultry
- Eggs
- Seafood and fish
Oxalate
High amounts of oxalate in your urine can raise your chances of getting a stone. While all fruits and vegetables contain oxalate, some have higher amounts, including:
- Kale
- Spinach
- Collard greens
- Rhubarb
- Almonds
- Rice bran and buckwheat
- Potatoes
Calcium
You may think that avoiding calcium can help reduce your risk of calcium stones. But calcium rich foods are okay — and actually help your urine stay balanced. In fact, either too little or too much calcium can increase your risk of stones.
If you eat too much calcium, your body gets rid of the extra in your urine. Higher calcium in your urine makes it more likely for a calcium stone to form. If you get too little calcium in your diet, the body is unable to get rid of oxalate as well. This can increase your chances of an oxalate stone.
So try to keep your calcium intake around the recommended daily allowance of 1000 mg each day. You can get about a quarter of your daily calcium in different ways, including through a single:
- Glass of milk (8 ounces)
- Mozzarella cheese stick
- Cup of yogurt (8 ounces)
Vitamin C
When levels of Vitamin C are higher in your body, your urine tends to have higher amounts of oxalate. This makes it easier for a kidney stone to form. Interestingly, several studies have shown that diets high in vitamin C make it more likely for stones to form in men but not women.
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