Help Prevent Kidney Stones

Causes of Kidney Stones:

‘How To Stay Out Of The Doctor’s Office’, written by Dr Wagner and Sylvia Goldfarb,  lists three types of kidney stones:

• 1) The type which is formed from too much oxalic acid in the urine is the most common type. According to Dr Wagner and Sylvia Goldfarb who wrote this book, oxalic acid is found in silver beet, spinach, chard, kale, rhubarb, tea, nuts, and dairy products. Lack of Vitamin B 6 can cause the body to build up oxalic acid.
• 2) Stones can be formed from uric acid.
• 3) Stones can be formed from excess cystine: This type of stone can form if the diet is too high in protein, usually too much flesh protein such as beef pork and mutton.

See Your Doctor Or Health Professional: Pain in the lower back can be a symptom of kidney stones. This can be very painful, and even dangerous, if a kidney stone blocks the ureter on its way to the bladder. Dr Wagner says that a kidney stone can take from 15 minutes to 6 weeks to pass through the system, providing it does not block the filtration mechanism. A large stone which may take a few weeks to pass through might cause kidney and bladder infections. You must see a doctor if you are having back pain.

Obviously, the best thing is prevention rather than wait for an emergency. Prevention could keep you out of the doctor’s office.

What You Can Do To Help Prevent Kidney Stones From Forming:

The main cause of kidney stones is insufficient magnesium in the diet.

Magnesium helps to process calcium in the body, so that the calcium  in your food can be utilized properly. Insufficient magnesium means that you have too much unprocessed calcium in the body. Some of this unprocessed calcium gets excreted by the kidneys, which do not always efficiently dispose this calcium, and this leads to a build up in the kidneys. This build up causes kidney stones.

Magnesium is found in green leafy vegetables: Silver beet and spinach actually have a high magnesium content, but because of the high oxalic acid in these vegetables, it is best to include greens such as broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, green beans, lettuce and mung bean sprouts in the meal. Small amounts of silver beet and spinach are ok in my opinion, as long as plenty of other greens, especially a large salad with lettuce and mung beans, is eaten at the meal.  Also, taking extra calcium foods like sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, or dairy products if you can digest these, helps prevent oxalic acid from depleting the body of calcium.

Keep the diet alkaline: Try to have two or three of these green vegetables with the daily cooked meal. Cooked green vegetables and raw salads provide you with plenty of magnesium to process the calcium in the body. Green vegetables and salad stuff like mung bean sprouts and lettuce, keep the body alkaline. Make a large salad at least once a day using mung bean sprouts. Add to your mung bean salad two or three of any of the following: lettuce, grated carrot, grated beetroot, spring onion, avocado, chopped celery, or a little  chopped spinach. These are all alkaline foods which provide good fiber for the intestines.

Adequate Protein in the Diet: Too much protein is no good, but insufficient protein can cause kidney stones also. Albumin is needed in the body, but excess amounts are created in the body when the diet is poor in protein, and this causes calcium build up in the kidneys.

Vitamin D  is necessary to process calcium properly. Not enough Vitamin D means that your body is likely to be deficient in calcium absorption, and this leads to weak bones and teeth, apart from the formation of kidney stones. Vitamin D helps prevention of kidney stones because of its effect on calcium, however, Dr Wagner warns against megadoses of Vitamin D, as this can also cause calcium build up in the kidneys.

The type of kidney stones which are formed by a build up of cystine is usually a hereditary condition where protein is not digested properly.

Avoid Antacids: Dr Wagner advises against the use of antacids, especially when you get older. Antacids mean that you are getting extra calcium carbonate which is difficult to absorb. Antacids can cause kidney stones. Many other medications can cause kidney stones.  I feel that warfarin should be studied properly in this regard – I have a friend who has been taking warfarin since his mid 30’s – he has recently had his gall bladder removed because it had cancer, and is currently undergoing surgery for removal of part of his liver.  He has been taking warfarin for 30 odd years.

Walter Last on Wheat Bread:  Avoid Wheat.

The diet of Walter’s which I followed many years ago did not allow wheat at all, and in fact, did not allow yeast foods either.  Wheat substitutes such as  rice and rice flour, besan flour, or chick pea flour,  corn meal, arrowroot, tapioca flour, potato flour, soy flour, are all gluten free, and these really are better than wheat for the health and for regenerating the body.  They are more nutritious and do not have that problematic gluten.

Not Too Much Milk: Walter Last advised against using milk at all, and his is the diet which I prefer for treating serious disease and for regenerating the health of the organs.

Dr Wagner also  is wary of milk, and advises that milk should not be over-used.  One reason that he gives is that milk is fortified with Vitamin D: While you need some Vitamin D for good health and to prevent kidney stones forming, too much Vitamin D can also cause the formation of kidney stones, because it causes too much calcium to enter the system. If this is not needed in the body, then the kidneys will have to deal with it. He says that the Vitamin D added to milk is a synthetic form, which causes other problems. Also, milk is high in phosphorous, and this is not helpful to the absorption of calcium anyway:  This was part of Walter Last’s reasoning for not using milk, but also that milk is mucous forming.

Mucous forming foods are best avoided if one wishes to avoid kidney and gall bladder stones from forming. Walter also said that pasteurized milk is no good for the digestion, as it is not easily digested once it has been heated.  And milk in tea, he said, was the worst thing out for the health, because the tannin in the tea renders the protein in the milk indigestible.  This undigested protein causes problems in the intestines, with build up of toxins.  Tea is best drunk black if it is to be imbibed.

Avoid Sugar and Yeast Foods: This was recommended generally by Walter Last.  Along with wheat, these foods are best left out of the diet whilst you are healing yourself of any serious disease.  It makes sense then, to avoid them if you are trying to prevent disease such as kidney stones. Eat these foods only in moderation to help prevent kidney stones.

Foods To Help Prevent Kidney Stones: Dr Wagner recommends asparagus, bananas, parsley, watercress, garlic, celery, cucumber, papaya, or paw paw, and horseradish as being the best foods for preventing kidney stones.  He states that these particular foods are especially good for getting the liver function working optimally.

Mung Bean Sprouts: I think mung bean sprouts in salads are especially good for the liver also.  Eating large salads made up of mung bean sprouts, with other raw vegetables, helps liver function and provides your body with easily digested protein food which is rich in digestive enzymes.

Cranberry Juice For Kidneys:  He recommends drinking cranberry juice, as this has an antiseptic effect on the kidneys and intestines. Pears are also good, as these can help relieve inflammatory conditions such as nephritis. Watermelon is also a good kidney and bladder medicine which aids the general health.

Drink Plenty of Water: Dr Wagner recommends that at least two quarts of distilled water are drunk each day. The urine should be clear and pale, and not yellow or brown.

Vitamins and Minerals to Help Prevent Kidney Stones:

Note: You need professional advice before taking any of these. This list with its dosages is adapted from Dr Wagner’s ‘How To Stay Out of the Doctor’s Office’ and is meant for information only.

Walter Last’s famous treatment for disease did not specify many vitamins and minerals – he believes in getting your nutrients from your food,  with  juices taken, such as beetroot, carrot, celery and apple.  The  emphasis is  on raw food  in Walter’s diet, such as mung beans and alfalfa sprouts.  He also used calf liver broth, taken in sips with carrot juice,  for very debilitated people, or for people who had a life threatening illness.  This provides Vitamin B6 and B12, iron, and digestive enzymes. If your diet is mainly vegetarian, then calf liver broth is a good idea as a nutritional supplement.

Vitamin B6 acts as a mild diuretic which is beneficial for the kidneys. 100Mg taken 3 times a day.

B6 is assimilated better with the help of Magnesium citrate 400mg twic a day, and Vitamin B2, 100mg also taken twice a day.

Beta carotene helps prevent kidney stones from forming. 25,000 IU per day – this could be taken naturally in a couple of large glasses of organic carrot juice instead of taking a supplement.

Fish oil also helps prevent stones from forming – 25,000 IU per day. This also could be taken through eating a portion of fish each day. Dr Wagner suggests that the bones in sardines might cause kidney stones, but I have found, as Walter Last recommended, that eating a can of sardines several times a week does not cause kidney stones to form if the diet is rich in alkaline greens and raw foods such as mung beans, lettuce, celery and carrots.

Dr Wagner recommends that phosphorous be taken daily, as per the instructions on the label- this helps prevent kidney stones from forming.

Vitamin C, 1000mg taken three times a day is helpful. I know that some people have dissolved small kidney stones through taking this much Vitamin C on a daily basis. It has also been used in various cancer treatments to good effect. The best type is non-acidic Vitamin C, calcium ascorbate. This keeps the body alkaline and prevents acidity of any kind.

Lecithin can be taken daily. This helps the gall bladder process fats and helps the health of the kidneys. 1200 mg can be taken 6 times a day. Walter Last uses lecithin as a food supplement in his recovery programmes. Lecithin helps the liver and the general health.

Vitamin E is a useful vitamin which can help clear up kidney problems. 400 IU of Vitamin E daily is recommended by Dr Wagner.  Vitamin E can be found in good quality vegetable oils such as  olive oil, peanut oil, grape seed oil,  avocado, nuts and seeds.

Zinc is recommended – 30 mg twice a day of Zinc picolinate.  Onions and garlic, leeks and chives, are all quite high in zinc.

Herbs to Benefit Kidneys as recommended by Dr Wagner:

Ginger, Marshmallow, parsey, uva ursi, comfrey, dandelion root, corn silk, shepherd’s purse