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Tag: Kidney stones

  • Should you take Vitamin C tablets?

    Should you take Vitamin C tablets?

    Many of my patients tell me that they are taking large doses of Vitamin C tablets to boost their immune system. If your diet is balanced, with all the food groups represented, you are likely getting enough Vitamin C without any reason to take additional tablets.

    According to the NIH, one medium orange contains more than enough vitamin C, around 117% of what you need daily. Adding oranges, grapefruits and lemons to your diet or broccoli and other fruits and vegetables that are high in Vitamin C, can help greatly. And, you can eat as much of these foods as you’d like without side effects.

    With Vitamin C supplements, in extremely high doses, there is a risk of developing kidney stones and severe diarrhea. Vitamin C supplements can potentially interact with your medications in harmful ways.  If you take iron pills or have an iron disorder, for example, a Vitamin C supplement could increase iron absorption and be really bad for you.

    What you may find hard to believe is that the scientific evidence shows that Vitamin C supplements are not as effective as you think. One reason people often take them is to prevent the common cold. The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database found that claim lacks evidence and it is possibly ineffective. Other systematic reviews of the Vitamin C supplement also show that it lacks the efficacy that the public believes it has. For example, in a systematic review of 29 studies released by the Cochrane Collaboration in 2013, Vitamin C supplements did not reduce the number of colds of participants in the studies. If you think the Vitamin C supplement keeps you from getting a cold or shortens it, think again.

    The one evidence-based reason to take Vitamin C supplements is that they can treat scurvy. Scurvy is a condition caused by an actual Vitamin C deficiency. In all of my years of practice, I have had ONE case of scurvy. You might have heard of scurvy in the past being an ailment of those sailing for long periods of time without a varied diet, but it is not limited to pirates and sailors. To read more about the history of scurvy click here.

    If you are worried about needing more Vitamin C, make sure you are eating enough Vitamin C-rich foods, including oranges, red peppers, kale, brussels sprouts, broccoli, strawberries, oranges and grapefruit. Changing your diet could be a simple non-supplement solution. If you still have concerns, discuss them with your doctor before taking any supplements. That’s the smartest way to protect your health and to save money.

    [N.B. This post was originally published on January 10, 2017.]

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  • Kidney stones and five tips to prevent them

    Kidney stones and five tips to prevent them

    The National Kidney Foundation estimates that one in ten people will develop a kidney stone sometime in their lives. Kidney stones are lumps that seem like stones in the kidneys, which can cause serious pain. Men are more prone to them than women, and they are most common among 30-60 year olds.

    You can get kidney stones and not know it if they are small enough to pass out of you in your urine. Often, they are painful because they get stuck in the urinary system and block the tube connecting the kidney to the bladder or the tube urine passes through out of your body. Or, they can cause an infection.

    Symptoms: You might feel an ache in your lower back, groin, or abdomen. You may also feel nauseous. Or, you may need to urinate often and feel pain when you do; there might also be blood in your urine.

    Often the stones will pass out of you in your urine. But, you may need to take medications or have them broken up with X-rays or ultrasound in hospital or even taken out through surgery.

    Most of us will never get kidney stones. But, if you do, you’re likely to get them again. To avoid them, drink a lot of water and eat a healthy diet. Here are five tips from the U.K’s national health service:

    1. Drink lots of water, especially if you sweat a lot. The best way to prevent kidney stones from developing is to make sure you drink a lot of liquids every day, so that minerals that make kidney stones do not settle in the kidneys and urinary tract. Water is good, as is coffee, tea and wine. We’re talking 81 ounces a day, a lot, a lot!!!! But stay away from sugary drinks, which increase your risk of getting kidney stones.
    2. Eat and drink foods with calcium and oxalate together. Oxalate-foods, such as nuts and fruits and chocolate are less likely to form kidney stones when you eat them with calcium-rich foods. Low-fat dairy products, whole grains and vegetables are also good. But, avoid beef and processed meats.
    3. Eat less food with sodium. Do not eat more than 2,300 milligrams of salt a day.
    4. Drink juices high in citrate, like lemons and limes and low in sugar.
    5. Eat calcium-rich foods. This might sound counter-intuitive as almost all kidney stones contain calcium.  But, as it turns out, eating a lot of foods with calcium reduces your likelihood of getting kidney stones, especially for men under 60 years old. It also might help you to eat foods rich in magnesium and potassium. Eat foods with 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day.

    [Editor’s note: This post was originally published on November 11, 2015 and has been updated.]

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