Iced Tea Consumption And Painful Kidney Stones Linked

Iced Tea Consumption And Painful Kidney Stones Linked

According to clinicians, ice tea, when consumed in high amounts, can lead to kidney stones. During summer, people tend to drink  ice tea to hydrate, but this can damage the kidneys. The explanation is that iced tea contains oxalate, one of the constituents of kidney stones. Obviously, kidney stones contain, besides oxalate, other compounds such as calcium, uric acid, etc.. Dr. John Milner, assistant professor, Department of Urology, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, said that not only cold tea can lead to formation of kidney stones, but also hot tea, but people do not drink so much hot tea in summer so as to form kidney stones. Clinicians recommend that people drink water to hydrate, and not other beverages such as juices or alcohol etc. In fact, the effect of alcohol is dehydration. Natural lemonade (not powdered) is also recommended because of it contains high amounts of citrate that inhibits the formation of kidney stones . It is important to note that the intention is not to forbid ice tea intake, but to recommend a moderate intake.

Iced Tea

Renal calculi (kidney stones) occurs mainly in men over age 40. In the United States about 10% of men suffer from this disease. The causes of formation of kidney stones is dehydration or consumption of certain food or drinks ( animal protein, corn syrup, grapefruit juice, apple juice, etc.). The most common kidney stones symptoms is  pain in the back, flank, or lower abdomen, the so-called renal colic. Pain may be accompanied by vomiting, nausea or other urinary symptoms such as hematuria (blood in urine), pyuria (pus in the urine), painful urination. The pain occurs due to blockage of the urinary tract by kidney stones.

Depending on the location of kidney stones, it can lead to either ureterolithiasis, which occurs when a stone blocks the ureter,  or nephrolithiasis, when the calculus is blocked in the kidney, or cistolithiasis, which occurs when the calculus blocks the bladder. Pain can be relieved with NSAIDs or opioids.Regarding treatment, kidney stones can be treated with shockwave lithotripsy or different types of surgery. There are several dietary measures to be taken by patients who already have kidney stones. It is indicate that these patients  limit sodium intake, vitamin C and animal protein products that contain large amounts of oxalate (that is dark chocolate, spinach, blueberries, tea, nuts, etc). It is also recommended eating foods that contain citrate, such as lemon or orange. But the most important advice is that patients with kidney stones  drink 2 liters of water per day. Of course, this advice is appropriate for all people not just those with kidney stones.