Fight Kidney Stone Development with Calcium, Water

"Kidney stones." The words are enough to make you cringe - and now a new study has found that older women whose diets include too little calcium or water (or too much salt) are at an increased risk of developing them.

Kidney stones develop when a person's urine contains more crystal-forming substances than can be diluted by available fluid. These substances can include calcium, uric acid and oxalate.

The researchers gathered data from more than 78,000 U.S. women in their 50s and 70s. They found that the risk of developing first-time kidney stones declined as calcium or fluid intake climbed. On the other hand, the odds went up with higher sodium intake.

Since calcium is one of the substances that can cause crystals to form in the kidneys, it might be surprising that increasing calcium can lower kidney stone risk. However, recent studies have found that dairy foods actually protect against kidney stone development - although calcium supplements might not be wise for known "stone formers."

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