Calcium is Your Kidney's Friend

by Nutrition Focus

Physicians in the U.S. used to routinely recommend low calcium diets to treat people with kidney stones. The thinking was that since the stones are mostly calcium, less calcium from the diet would reduce the chance of deposits in the kidney. It turns out exactly the opposite is true. Higher dietary calcium helps prevent kidney stones.

The latest study on this assessed 96,000 nurses and found over 1,200 cases of kidney stones. A highly significant 27 percent reduction in stones was seen in the women consuming the highest amount of calcium in the diet; supplements did not show a protective effect. In addition, phytate – a chemical in high fiber foods that binds minerals – showed a stronger protective effect, reducing stone formation by 37 percent. The study appeared in the April 26, 2004 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/164/8/885

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Although observational studies like this one cannot prove cause and effect, the results on calcium agree with many other types of studies. Animal protein and fluid intake also decreased risk of stone formation, as in other studies.

Tags: calcium