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Kidney stones affect approximately 1 in 11 people in the United States, though 20 years ago it was only 1 in 20, a dramatic increase in the prevalence of this disease, which started going up after World War II.
Our first clue as to why was published in the 70s; a striking relationship was found between stone incidence and the consumption of animal protein. But this was a population study, though—you can’t prove cause and effect.
So next, researchers in Britain did an interventional study, added animal protein to their diet, like an extra can of tuna fish to their daily diet, and measured stone-forming risk factors in their urine: how much calcium they were peeing out, the concentration of oxalate and uric acid in their urine before, and after, the extra tuna.
Their overall probability of forming stones increased 250% during those days they were eating that extra fish. And that so-called high animal protein diet? That was just enough to bring intake up to that of the average American. So the average American intake of meat appears to markedly increase risk of kidney stones.
So what about no meat? Well even by the late 70s, we knew that the only dietary factor consistently associated with kidney stones was animal protein. And not just getting your first kidney stone. The higher the intake of animal protein, the more likely an individual is to have multiple stones, rather than just a single stone episode. Not protein in general, it seems, but specifically high in animal protein.
Conversely, a diet low in animal protein may reduce the overall probability of forming stones to become very low indeed, which may explain the apparent low incidence of stones in vegetarian societies. So, it may be worthwhile advocating a more vegetarian form of diet as a means of reducing the risk.
Watch the remainder of this article @nutritionfacts.org
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