Drink more water to prevent kidney disease

People with kidney stones have a higher risk of developing chronic kidney diseases and chronic diseases. If kidney disease gets worse, wastes can build to high levels in your blood and make you feel sick. You may develop complications like high blood pressure, anemia (low blood count), weak bones, poor nutritional health and nerve damage. Chronic kidney disease may be caused by diabetes, high blood pressure and other disorders. Doctors say that one of the most common factors leading to the formation of a kidney stone is lack of water in the body.

When you don’t drink enough water, the salts, minerals, and other substances in the urine can stick together and form a stone. This is the most common cause of kidney stones.

According to the results of a large meta-analysis, presented at a March 2015 National Kidney Foundation meeting in Dallas, Texas, people who produced 2 to 2.5 liters of urine daily were 50 percent less likely to develop kidneys stones than those who produced less.

It generally took drinking about eight to 10 eight-ounce glasses of water daily to produce that amount of urine. According to Kerry Willis, chief scientific officer at the National Kidney Foundation

The National Kidney Foundation recommends drinking more than 12 glasses of water a day, but a simpler way to know if you are drinking enough water is to check the color of your urine; you want your urine to be a very light, pale yellow (darker urine is more concentrated).

EXPERTS VIEW

Peoples believe that since most kidney stones are made of calcium, a low calcium diet can reduce the risk of kidney stones. However, urologists regard this as a myth. It was found that individuals who had diets rich in calcium had a one-third lower risk of kidney stones than those with low calcium diets.

A study conducted at Harvard School of Public Health also revealed the same, stating that a diet rich in calcium actually blocks a chemical action that causes the formation of the stones. Therefore, medicos recommend a calcium-rich diet to prevent the risk of kidney stones but calcium supplements are to be avoided.