Renal stones & Role of Diet and Hydration in Prevention of it.

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Hello my fellow steemians, welcome to my new post in health series where i will be discussing common health problems prevalent in our communities.

Today we will be discussing about Renal stones and their relation to our diet, & what foods to be avoided in renal stones.
Renal stones(urolithiais) is a common health problem through out the globe and here are some data regarding it

Prevalence of renal stones is 4-5 % , i.e. in every 100 people 4-5 will develop renal stones .
Lifetime prevalence is 15 -25%, i.e. a person has 15-25 % chance that he will develop urolithiasis in his lifetime
It has high recurrence rate, if a person develops it once , there is 75 % chance he will develop it again within 20 years source

Diet is crucial in both prevention and good prognosis after treatment in urolithiasis. Even after the excellent treatment measures there is high recurrence unless diet habit is changed...but there are some misconceptions reagarding diet - Many people will advise you not to take calcium rich foods and meat products if you have renal stone, but it is not completely true...What food to take and what not to depends upon what type of renal stone you have!

Proper Hydration

The most common factor predisposing to renal stone is dehydration, dehydration results in high concentration of solutes in urine which supersaturate and result into stone crystals..But how much water to take???.. they say plenty of water but you should know how much will be enough for you?? 2 litre? 4 litre? or 6 litres? ...
It does not make sense, it is the urine volume you should look upon not the amount of water you drink,.... it is said that the appropriate amount of urine in 24 hr should be about 2 litres.. the main aim is to make dilute urine..when urine becomes dilute enough there is less chance of supersaturation of solutes and formation of stones.... the required fluid intake depends on your body weight and amount of water lost excluding the urine.. in hot climate most of water is lost through sweat and lungs so fluid uptake should be high as compared to cold climate and it also applies to the amount of exercise you do- the more you do the exercise more water is lost through sweat and you will require some more fluid to make dilute urine...

The type of dietary habit you should follow depends on type of stone you have!

There are commonly 5 types of renal stones:

Calcium oxalate stone:

It is most common one, by the name itself you know it is a salt oxalic acid with calcium. It is formed when urine has high concentration of calcium and oxalate. it is spiky and has irregular surface so it causes more symptoms early on..it is browninsh due to blood pigments.

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Struvite stone:

It is second most common. it is formed mainly after infection with pseudomonas, kleibsella i.e. urea splitting organisms. It is made of calcium-magnesium-ammonium-phosphate.It has smooth surface so has less initial symptoms so it is diagnosed generally when it has reached large size and has more complications.

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Uric acid stone :

Uric acid stones or urates are formed when blood serum uric acid level is high, only the increase in its level is not sufficient to form stones it requires some precipitating factors like acidic urine and other factors that cause its crystallization. It is multiple faceted and smooth, it is less common than calcium and struvite stones.

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Cystine stones:

It is found in people having genetic defect in metabolism of cystine i.e. patients of cystinuria, it is very hard...it is often mixed with sulphur compounds.

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Xanthine stone:

It is also seen in inborn genetic defect where xanthine is accumulated in blood due to defect in xanthine oxidase. It is rare.

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What type of food to be avoided in which stone?

Now you know different types of renal stones and their composition, lets talk about the different diets related them..

Calcium oxalate :

Milk and milk products have high calcium contents..straberries,plums,spinach and asparagus have high oxalic acid contents..so people already having high ca-oxalate level should avoid these..

Uric acid

Uric acid is formed from purines.. red meat, fish,offal are rich in purines which get metabolised to uric acid... high level of urate along with low tempr and ph precipitate to stones.. these people should also avoid alcohol as it is a aggravating factor..

cystine

Eggs, fish and meat & other compounds which are high in sulphur should be avoided by people having cystinuria.

In addition to that acidic urine aggravates the formation of oxalate, uric acid cystine xanthine stones but alkaline urine precipitates the formation of struvite stone....

Hence restriction only of calcium is not a proper major in other types of stones moreover its useless....so it all depends on what type of stone you have!!!

References:
Images:
[1],[2],[3],[4],[5]

Contents:
1.http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=ajdd.2017.54.62
2.Bailey & Love's Short Practice of Surgery, 26E