Five common myths about your diet and preventing kidney stones

Five common myths about your diet and preventing kidney stones


It is known that the best way to prevent kidney stones is to have a healthy consumption of liquids and also keep a well-balanced diet. In this blog, we have shared numerous articles on this matter, which may indicate individuals about the best things they can do to prevent kidney stones. However, on the internet, we often can find pieces of advice and information that are not completely true about the things we can do to remain stone free or prevent the formation of kidney stones.

Most common myths about the things that you can do to prevent kidney stones are related to your diet. The way we eat and the things we eat have an impact on the type of waste our kidneys need to filter, ergo, they also have an important impact on the probabilities of our bodies developing kidney stones. Nevertheless, ideas such as considering calcium a threat for your kidneys or that water is the only liquid that can help you stay away from kidney stones are not true.

Thanks to this, in this article we will share some of the most common myths related to the prevention of kidney stones based on our dietary habits that need to be banned or at least taken into consideration. Maybe, this way people will avoid focusing on theses myths and will start focusing on real ways to prevent kidney stones.

Calcium Will Give You Kidney Stones

One can see why this may concern a few individuals since there is a type of kidney stone that is made of calcium. However, this kind of stone is not caused merely because you consume huge amounts of calcium, it is caused due to many reasons, and one of them may be because you are dehydrated.

Also, as crazy as it may sound, some studies on the way kidney stones are formed show that those who consume less calcium are more prone to develop kidney stones. The reason to this is because when you consume little calcium, it passes to your urine rapidly, where it meets another substance called oxalate and will hold onto it like a magnet forming the stones.

However, when you consume lots of calcium, it meets the same oxalate substance in the stomach and bids with it in there instead of the kidney, helping you prevent the formation of kidney stones. When these two substances meet in the stomach, they are absorbed into the body. For this reason, may doctors treat kidney stone formation by prescribing calcium to the patients.

Water is the only liquid that helps you preventing kidney stones

Definitely, humans need water to survive and are completely dependent on it. In this sense, it is important to consume it in order to prevent the formation of kidney stones. Despite this, water is not the only liquid that can help you preventing kidney stones. Pretty much any liquid that you consume in generous amounts can help you reduce the probabilities of developing kidney stones.

It doesn’t matter if you have some random colorful liquid with sugar and additives to it, it will help you prevent kidney stones. The reason to this is that regardless the type of liquid you consume it is going to be made of water anyway, so it can still help you stay stone free.

Carbonated drinks, coffee and tea cause kidney stones

This myth is a bit related to the one mentioned above, for this reason, it can also be considered to be just that: a myth. Since carbonated drinks, coffee and tea are also made of water; there is no reason why they should make you more prone to develop kidney stones. In fact, studies have shown that they don’t increase the risk of developing kidney stones directly.

These types of drinks may increase your probabilities of developing other types of diseases associated with their compounds and ingredients (like sugar). But, they are basically absorbed like water in the body. To this matter, the only drink that may increase your chances of developing kidney stones is grapefruit juice. However, the reason to this also remains unknown.

Alcohol may give you the stones

This is considered to be an option since alcohol has a diuretic effect on your kidneys that may lead to dehydration and the potential development of kidney stones. Nevertheless, it has been proved that drinks such as beer and wine reduce considerably the possibilities of individuals developing kidney stones.

While it is always recommendable to consume alcohol responsibly and in moderate amounts, these recommendations are not really related to the fact that consuming it may give you kidney stones.

Image courtesy of Quinn Dombrowski at

Consuming vitamin C is a terrible idea

Many people believe this because vitamin c is broken down by the body and turns into oxalate. However, when consumed in reasonable quantities it is harmless to your kidneys and actually good to your body.

Related: Dehydration: The Number One Cause to Kidney Stones by Joe Cosgrove

* Featured Image courtesy of fdecomite at


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