Try orange juice to stop recurrent kidney stones

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Orange juice does a better job than other citrus juices in keeping kidney stones away.
Kidney stones develop when minerals and other substances in urine bind together and grow into a deposit. It's an extremely painful condition and one that tends to recur. Dietary changes can help stop kidney stones coming back, as can taking potassium citrate. But many can't tolerate potassium citrate, which can cause gastrointestinal side effects. They may try to get more citrate from their diet - and one obvious source is citrus juices, like lemon, grapefruit and orange.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have compared orange juice and lemonade as a source of citrate for those at risk of recurrent kidney stones. Thirteen volunteers - some with a history of kidney stones and some not - drank 13 ounces of either orange juice, lemonade or water three times a day with their meals for a week. After a three week break, they swopped to one of the other drinks so they had all tested all three by the end of the trial. Analysis of their urine showed that orange juice boosted the level of citrate most. This meant less crystallization of uric acid and calcium oxalate, the most common component of kidney stones. Lemonade did not increase the level of citrate and so, one might surmise, it will not help to reduce the recurrence of kidney stones.

Source
Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology online 31st August 2006

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