Why does Vitamin C Cause Kidney Stones?

Why does vitamin C cause kidney stones? Additional vitamin C is metabolized into oxalate by the organs, a component of metabolic wastes. Oxalate typically leaves the bloodstream by urine. In certain conditions, though, oxalate can adhere to minerals, forming clusters that could contribute to the development of kidney stones.

The ingestion of excessive vitamin C will raise the level of oxalate crystals in the urine and thereby raise the chance of getting kidney stones. Excessive consumption of vitamin C is not just correlated with higher levels of urinary oxalate. Still, it is also correlated with kidney stones' production, mainly if you ingest concentrations more than two thousand milligrams.

How Does Vitamin C Cause Kidney Stones?

There are a multitude of reasons why kidney stones develop. Genetic traits make a difference; as males suffer from these stones more than females, body weight is a factor as well since obesity increases the likelihood of kidney stones, and eating habits matter too, like eating lots of protein from animal sources not sipping adequate fluids.

The most popular stone form is a combination of calcium and oxalate, which is a material present in several food items. Many individuals decompose vitamin C into oxalate, that describes the association with the development of kidney stones. Males are more likely as compared to females to develop kidney stones; about three out of four patients are males.  

Often eating patterns may raise the likelihood of producing kidney stones. Consuming large vitamin C levels, such as five hundred milligrams or greater per day for a few weeks or months, raises certain people's chances of getting kidney stones.

This is especially prominent of individuals who have recently suffered from stones of calcium oxalate, or the people having a genetic background with such stones. The possible explanation for this could be that a substantial vitamin C level in the bloodstream is transformed to oxalate at larger concentrations.

Therefore, a huge quantity of oxalate would be prevalent in the urine, where the calcium oxalate crystals can be merged to create kidney stones. Individuals with the potential for this issue must not consume anything greater than the minimum regular vitamin C intake in the form of supplementation.

Consuming food products rich in oxalates can also spark kidney stone development in individuals who are susceptible to developing calcium oxalate crystals. The products raise oxalate levels in the urine and must be restricted to include lettuce, lemongrass, tomatoes, peanuts, like, cocoa, tea, rice flour, and berries.

Appropriate Vitamin C Intake to Prevent Kidney Stones

As vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin and the body expels enormous quantities of it just a couple of hours after eating it, excessive intake could prove very challenging. In reality, having so much vitamin C through your eating habits alone is almost unlikely.

Some excess vitamin C that is ingested in healthier people over the normal regular dose is literally washed out of the body. You will have to eat thirty oranges or fifteen capsicums before the consumption hits the maximum bearable cap, to bring that into context.

Nonetheless, as people take vitamins, the chances of vitamin c impairment are greater, because, in some cases, too much of the nutrient can be ingested. For instance, people with disorders that raise the likelihood of overloading iron or are vulnerable to kidney stones should be careful regarding their vitamin C consumption.

Many of the negative consequences of vitamin C, like stomach problems and kidney stones, tend to arise when individuals consume the medication in massive concentrations higher than two thousand milligrams.

If you want to consume vitamin C supplements, it is safest to select one that provides no greater than a hundred percent of your regular requirement. That is ninety milligrams 90 daily for guys and seventy milligrams daily for females.

Treatment for Small Sized Kidney Stones

Kidney stone protection may require a variety of improvements in the way of living and medicine. If you stick to the lifestyle changes listed above, you can decrease your chances of kidney stones:

• Consume water for the whole day. Medical professionals prescribe consuming adequate water for someone with a background of kidney stones to produce around two liters of urine on a daily basis. Your physician can request you to test your urine production to ensure you have adequate water intake.

In many other situations, the only approach to help avoid certain forms of kidney stones is to consume enough beverages each day. Drinking lots of water prevents the urine filtered and helps wash out contaminants that may shape crystals.

While water is safest, certain beverages, including citrus drinks, can also help avoid kidney stones. Certain experiments have shown that citrus beverages, like orange juice, prevent kidney stones since they consist of citrate, which prevents crystals from becoming stones.

• If you stay in a humid, dry environment, you can need to consume much more water to make sufficient urine if you regularly work out. When your urine is of a lighter shade or white, you 're having ample water to drink. Restrict the consumption of foods which are high in oxalates.

• Unless you happen to develop calcium oxalate crystals, your health practitioner might suggest limiting oxalate-rich foods. Other products contain beetroot, tomatoes, okra, lettuce, Swiss chard, bell peppers, almonds, tea, cocoa, garlic powder, and soy. Consider a low-salt diet and protein sources from animals.

• Decreases the quantity of sodium chloride you consume, and select non-animal products that are also rich in protein like pulses. Try utilizing a replacement for the water. Keep consuming foods high in calcium but use the calcium supplementation with extreme care. Calcium does not affect the likelihood of kidney stones in the food.

So, you may carry on with your regular calcium intake, except if your physician recommends alternatively. Contact your pharmacist before getting calcium medication, since they have been associated with the increased threat of kidney stones. By eating such supplements with lunch and dinner, you can decrease the risk.

• Dietary habits poor in calcium can in certain individuals increase the production of kidney stones. Ask the doctor for a recommendation to a nutritionist that will support you in establishing an eating program to decrease the chance of developing kidney stones.

Medication for Treating Kidney Stones

Medicines can regulate the quantity of water and nutrients in the urine and be useful in individuals who make specific stones. The treatment method your doctor endorses will rely on what type of stones are present in your kidney. Here are just a few explanations:

• To further avoid the development of calcium stones, your physician might recommend a diuretic thiazide or a phosphate formulation.

• Your health practitioner could also recommend allopurinol to lower uric acid concentration in your body and medication to maintain your urine in an alkaline state. In certain situations, the uric acid crystals may be dissolved by allopurinol and an alkalizing assistant.
• To stop struvite stones, your physician can prescribe techniques to keep the urine safe from infectious bacteria, like consuming fluids to ensure a healthy urine discharge.

• In some situations, lengthy usage of antibiotics at low or sporadic doses can aid in achieving this objective. Your physician could, for example, prescribe an antibiotic to cure your kidney stones prior to your surgery.

Treatment for Big Sized Kidney Stones

In case the kidney stones are a bit too large to slip spontaneously, they are normally dissolved through surgery. The major forms of operation to extract kidney stones are:

• Shock wave lithotripsy

Shock wave lithotripsy includes the use of ultrasound to determine where the kidney stone seems to be. Ultrasound reverberations are later sent from the device to the stone to split it into tiny chunks so that it can move through your urine.

Shock wave lithotripsy may be a painful type of care, so it is typically done after an analgesic drug is given. You can require more than one SWL treatment to effectively cure the kidney stones.

• Ureteroscopy

The ureteroscopy process requires moving a large, narrow microscope known as a ureteroscope into a stream of urine that travels via the urine excretory organ, which is known as the urethra, and later to the bladder. This is then moved on to the ureter and acts as the connecting part between the kidneys and the bladder.  

The doctor could either attempt to carefully extract the stone with the help of another tool or use laser energy to split it up into tiny particles so that it can be removed directly through your urine. Ureteroscopy is done with a local anesthetic.

• Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy requires the usage of a small telescope device named a nephroscope. A slight slice or incision is created in the leg, and the nephroscope is pushed across and through the kidneys. The stone will either be taken out or split into multiple parts through laser or pneumatic control. PCNL is often done under local anesthetic.

Final Word

Kidney stones can be extremely painful, and they need different methods to be removed from the body, sometimes surgery might be the only option left. However, if you take precautionary measures such as managing your vitamin C levels, you could stay safe from this renal adversity.

References:

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4769668/
• https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/high-dose-vitamin-c-linked-to-kidney-stones-in-men-201302055854
• https://www.urologyofva.net/articles/category/healthy-living/2895976/do-vitamin-c-supplements-cause-kidney-stones-care2-healthy-living
• https://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/newsreleases/0150