How to Prevent and Treat Kidney Stones Through Diet

Many instances of kidney stones are caused by poor diet, but some cases can be prevented or mitigated with relatively minor changes. Your physician, along with specialists such as registered dietitians, can customize a diet plan with your stone type and general health in mind. Although severe cases may be remedied only by drug and surgical interventions, diet changes are noninvasive options for preventing stones from forming and helping small stones pass quickly.

Know Your Stones

Dietary recommendations to prevent and treat stones vary depending on the type of stones you suffer from. You can reduce your risk of calcium oxalate stones, the most common type of kidney stone, by reducing or eliminating high-oxalate foods such as spinach, nuts and chocolate. But to fight uric acid stones, you should reduce your intake of animal protein. Most people need only three to four servings of animal proteins such as meat, eggs and fish per day. Overeating foods high in oxalate and animal protein can cause new stones to form and existing stones to grow. Your urologist should be able to analyze stones you've passed and compile lists of foods to limit and avoid.

Drink Smart

Unsweetened fluids can help prevent stones by efficiently passing materials through the urinary tract. Hydration treats small stones by flushing them out before they increase in size. Kidney stone sufferers should consume enough water to produce at least two quarts of urine per day, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There is evidence that citrus drinks such as lemonade may help prevent stones, since they contain citrate, a mineral that stops small crystals from forming stones. But the research favoring citrate had small samples and may not be reliable, according to HHS. Discuss fluid choices with your physician. Citrate aggravates some types of stones, and fluids such as coffee and cranberry juice are high-oxalate.

Eat More Produce

Patients who followed a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables over the course of many years were less likely to develop kidney stones, according to a study by Dr. Eric Taylor, a kidney specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. It is theorized that consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables keeps the body hydrated, which prevents stones from forming and helps small stones pass before the patient experiences symptoms. Some plants may also contain compounds that stop crystals from binding to form stones.

Properly Manage Dairy

Kidney stone sufferers may be tempted to avoid products such as milk, cheese and yogurt, since many kidney stones are made of calcium. Although recommendations vary depending on the patient, many urologists do not encourage such a drastic dietary change. In addition to protecting your bones, calcium may bind to oxalate and help it exit the body more efficiently, decreasing the occurrence of oxalate kidney stones. Dairy selections should be low-fat, to help prevent uric acid stones, heart disease and obesity.

Hold the Salt

Consuming a high-sodium diet causes more calcium to be excreted from your kidneys into your urine. Excess calcium can combine with other materials in your urine to form stones and make existing stones larger. Since salt doesn't offer the same benefits as calcium, many urologists will recommend cutting sodium while still consuming adequate calcium. Kidney stone patients are usually told to consume no more than 2,000 mgs of sodium per day, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Your physician can help you identify and track sources of sodium such as meat and processed snacks.