27 Comments
Mar 5Liked by Chris Masterjohn, PhD

I've been plagued by calcium oxalate kidney stones since I was 24 when I got the first one while stationed on Guam, allegedly "the kidney stone capital of the world." It also runs in my family, although I get the most, by far. Over the next 50 years, no matter how much water I drank, I would get BIG kidney bean sized kidney stones every ~4-5 years that were impossible to pass, no matter how much morphine I got, and which had to be blasted apart. Not too long after my last incident about 5 years ago, where they had to blast 11 stones, I discovered:

Effects of green tea on urinary stone formation: an in vivo and in vitro study. (PMID: 16724910)

Preprotection of Tea Polysaccharides with Different Molecular Weights Can Reduce the Adhesion between Renal Epithelial Cells and Nano-Calcium Oxalate Crystals (PMID: 32411319)

Molecular Mechanisms of Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate for Prevention of Chronic Kidney Disease and Renal Fibrosis: Preclinical Evidence (PMCID: PMC6752729)

I then started drinking a lot of green tea. Over the last few years, I have passed a couple of small stones and have peed out "sand" a few times. I continue drinking a LOT of green tea,

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Mar 6Liked by Chris Masterjohn, PhD

Thanks for sharing your story! Back in 2010 I went a low carb diet for three years. I'd never had kidney stone in my life until eating lots almonds, tons of swiss chard, mountains spinach along with dark chocolate. I stopped eating those foods and starting drinking milk and orange juice and was shocked to see I peed sand for months. Never had a problem since. I like green tea, think I'll try to drink that more often.

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Great post!

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My retired RN friend used to work at a retirement home where they used d-mannose to prevent urinary tract infections. It was researched and written about by an MD in the 1980s.

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author

Yes, that is effective.

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Thank you for article! I've been researching and self experimenting for 10 years to prevent kidney stones and am a student of SallyKNorton .com who is an author and expert in oxalic acid. Her teachings and book have literally saved my life! Contrary to your recommendations, she advises on reducing collagen intake since it increases risk of calcium oxalate stone formation and explains the biochemistry. She also advises to toss the cooking liquid after boiling veggies which have high levels of oxalic acid which come of out of the veggies, but she recommends adding potassium citrate to your drinking water. Please see her book and life's work "Toxic Superfoods" as well as her research on how to reduce oxalic acid overload which continues to "poison" many of us, especially those of us who are health food crazy like me!

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author

I have read her book. This wasn't about oxalate toxicity, it was about kidney stones. Urine pH is more important than oxalate load for this specific issue because it determines whether the oxalate stays soluble or crystalizes.

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Mar 5Liked by Chris Masterjohn, PhD

Good to know! Thanks so much! As a forager, I have come to learn that my diet was heavy in oxalates. Going to order the pH meter!

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I’m curious to learn more about alkalinizing acids that feed into the citric acid cycle - I hadn’t read about that as a technique to buffer body acidity elsewhere…..are there other benefits or cautions for supplementing with citric acid feedstocks?

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author

That's a super complicated topic. I'll write more in the future.

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Interesting! Wouldn't it be best if the Urine changes the PH in a natural circadian rhythm to eventually prevent both versions of stones and bacteria?

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author

What circadian rhythm are you expecting?

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According to Lynne August MD, her work is based on Dr. Revici's work:

"In health, the urine pH cycles throughout 24-hour day. The alkaline peak is at

4AM and the acid peak at 8PM. These peaks reflect a healthy circadian rhythm of

lipid activity... Pathophysiology in contrast, yields either a sustained alkaline or acid urine

pH."

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author

Interesting. Mine doesn't follow that cycle at all. I've never heard of someone having more alkaline urine upon waking.

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Yes for that matter it's important not to test the first urine in the morning which is just an average of the night.

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Nah, use Mag Citrate. Most kidney stones are calcium oxalate, but not all. When you give Mag Citrate, the Citrate ion combines with the calcium on the calcium oxalate to make calcium citrate. Calcium citrate is 567 times more soluble in water than calcium oxalate. Voila. Kidney stone is history.

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author

You say "nah" then recommend citrate, which does what I said it does.

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Yes, I would recommend citrate in the the form of Mag Citrate. Potassium Citrate not so much because, one could get into cardiac problems. I had one patient with a calcified uterus. The calcification disappeared in about 2 months with Mag Citrate taken to the point of loose stools. I was amazed.

Yes, citrate. I mean no disrespect.

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author

Citrate will alkalinize the urine.

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Potassium citrate is the recommended treatment for many...

I have wondered whether magocitrate might also help but can't find anything

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author

It's the citrate.

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Alkalize or die?

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Would the alkalinization of the urine caused by Mag Citrate stop the dissolving of the kidney stone by Citrate?

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author

Citrate works by alkalinizing the urine. Doesn't matter what ion is attached to it.

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I am wondering whether it is best to sample the first morning urine since it would be the most consistent time point to measure pH changes from day to day.

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author

Best to collect all the data since you spend most of your day in a not-first-of-the-morning state.

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Thanks for the clarification!

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