Drink lemon juice against kidney stones

A recent study shows that lemon juice can be used to treat kidney stones because it helps slow the formation of new stones.

'When treating patients in the center of their kidney stones, we give people a lemonade drink therapy,' Steven Y. Nakada, Urology professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said at a news conference about kidney stones research at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) held May 23 in Atlanta.

Those who have had kidney stones will probably never forget the sudden severe pain in their hips. Some patients also believe that the pain of this disease is the same as when a woman gives birth.

Kidney stones form when minerals from the urine crystallize and form stones inside the kidney. In most normal people, urine contains a type of potassium salt (potassium citrate) that prevents stones from forming, but some people have very little of it and are therefore at high risk of kidney stones.

Often to treat kidney stones, doctors prescribe patients taking potassium citrate in tablet or liquid form .

In his research, Professor Nakada and his colleagues gave the patients some lemon juice. They found that lemon juice increased the amount of citrate in the urine to a level that is thought to prevent kidney stones from forming. It works completely unlike potassium citrate, but for patients who need to avoid medication, lemon juice is an ideal alternative.

Research by Duke University scientists also found that over 90% of patients who drank lemon juice daily improved potassium citrate in their urine. In patients who drink a lot of lemon juice, their stones are smaller.

In addition to lemonade, researchers also recommend eating less salt and less meat at every meal to prevent kidney stones.

WALL VY