Kidney Stones Related to Vitamin C Supplements

Kidney Stones Related to Vitamin C Supplements

The latest research done by a team from the Karolinska Institutet from Sweden reveals that men who take vitamin C on a regular basis have a higher risk to develop kidney stones. However, researchers didn’t find the same results in men who take multivitamins on a regular basis, probably due to the fact that multivitamins contain a lower quantity of vitamin C. The study was recently published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

The information for the study was gathered from a very large population of men from two Swedish counties, Ã–rebro and Västmanland. More than 23 thousand male patients were monitored overt the course of 11 years. None of the patients had any history of kidney stones at the start of the trial. However, they were either taking vitamin C supplements or were having a normal diet. Across the trial period, 436 patients developed kidney stones and required further medical attention. This led the research team to study whether or not the vitamin C supplements had an impact on the development of kidney stones. The same analysis was then conducted on the patients who were taking multivitamins.

According to the results of the study, vitamin C supplements, usually in the form of 1g tablets, double the risk of developing kidney stones. However, the same results show that multivitamins don’t increase the risk of kidney stones. The research team reports that this effect is probably caused by the dose and combination of various nutrients. Therefore, the recent observations do not apply to a normal daily intake of vitamin C, taken from vegetables and fruit. The RDI (Recommended Daily Intake) of vitamin C in Sweden is 75mg, whilst the average vitamin C supplement contains 1g per tablet.

“As with all research, the results should be corroborated by other studies for us to be really sure”, notes the  leader of the study, associate professor Agneta Ã…kesson. She also added that information about how women react to vitamin C supplements is unknown for now. As a conclusion, Ã…kesson says that due to the fact that there are no known or documented benefits of vitamin C supplements, the best thing we could do is for patients to stop taking them, especially if they have a history of kidney stones.