Kidney Stone Prevention – It’s Not What You Think

A few decades ago, doctors and dietitians believed that eating too many calcium foods caused kidney stones. They restricted milk products, cheese, salmon bones, kale, mustard greens and collard greens in the person’s diet.

This didn’t work, and usually the person suffered from another very painful attack of a kidney stone. The pain comes from the stone being lodged in the kidney, ureter or bladder and the body trying to pass the stone.

This idea that too much calcium in the diet causes kidney stones is not very realistic for most people’s kidney stones but it is understandable. First of all, it’s rare for people to consume too much calcium unless they are using dairy products as their primary food group and not consuming many other foods.

Cow’s milk is high in calcium and phosphorus but not high enough in magnesium, which helps the body absorb the calcium. Secondly, kidney stones are primarily calcium oxalate stones, which is why the doctors believe there’s too much calcium. The calcium has to go somewhere, they theorize, so it goes to the formation of the stones.

Too Little Calcium Causes Kidney Stones

Now with much new information and many research studies, we know that calcium oxalate stones are formed in the body from not enough calcium instead of too much.

Just last week, one of my nutrition patients called with the report that she had unexplained back pain that was a possible kidney stone based on an x-ray. Her pain wasn’t the incapacitating type of pain that usually exists with those who are in the midst of a kidney stone attack, but nevertheless, it was enough for her to do something about it.

I made a decoction of the herb Quebra pedra, (Latin name Phyllanthus niruri) and sent her home with a quart of the tea. Her instructions were to drink the tea in 2-ounce portion sizes every hour and drink plenty of water in between. The next day, she could drink 2 ounces every 2 hours, still keeping up the water intake.

By the second day, she was feeling much better. Determined to completely dissolve the kidney stone, she continued and asked for another quart. Meanwhile, she also realized that the reason why she had developed the kidney stones in the first place was because she did not consume enough calcium in her diet. As a breast-feeding mom, she needed a higher amount of calcium and was not taking supplements to make up for it.

Stone-Breaking Herb Dissolves the Kidney Stones

This herb is an herb from the Amazon rainforest known for its stone-breaking properties. In fact, about 15 years ago, I read a research study about it in the journal called Nephrology that was detailing the greater than 90% success in dissolving kidney stones. This herb has worked for me since the late 1990s.

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