9 Foods That Up Your Kidney Stone Risk (Including Kale!)

Are you drinking the kale Kool-Aid?

The health nut community has eagerly jumped on this leafy-green bandwagon over the past few years, and it doesn’t show signs of stopping. (Even Beyoncé flaunted a kale sweatshirt in her latest music video!)

But could this superfood be doing more harm than good? While kale is loaded with vitamins C, K, and A, it also touts high levels of oxalate, a naturally produced compound found in many common foods. Consumption of too many foods high in oxalate can increase the amount of oxalate in the urine, which bonds with calcium in the urine to form little build-ups called calcium-oxalate kidney stones.

“I don’t know if I can specifically link it [kidney stones] to kale, but a lot more seemingly healthy people are coming in with kidney stones than in the past,” Mantu Gupta, MD, director of the Kidney Stone Center at Mount Sinai Hospital, tells Yahoo Health. “Another population we’re seeing a lot are people that are on high-protein diets.”

Animal protein deposits salt and acid into the urine, which can cause stones to grow. That’s why, despite the fact that the list of high-oxalate foods (leafy greens, beans, nuts, and soy) are daily go-tos for vegetarians and vegans, they’re less prone to kidney stones because they don’t consume animal protein. Genetics, diabetes, obesity, and magnesium deficiency also play a role.

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Reducing intake of high-oxalate foods is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of kidney stone formation, but that doesn’t mean you have to check kale off your weekly CSA list entirely. Just make sure to keep it in check — plus, there are plenty of other ways to prevent kidney stones from forming, says Philip Buffington, MD, chief medical officer at The Urology Group in Cincinnati, Ohio.

To counteract oxalate levels and inhibit the formation of stones, the most important thing to do is to hydrate, reduce intake of table salt, add citrus (like lemons and oranges) to your water, and reduce animal protein, Buffington tells Yahoo Health.

Gupta also recommends eating calcium and oxalate-rich foods together so that they bind in the stomach and intestines, and not in the kidneys and urine. “Have [a] glass of milk or yogurt with your meal,” he suggests.

Kidney stones can be extremely painful, lengthy conditions to pass, so if you’re prone to kidney stones, it’s important to adjust your diet and watch out for signs and symptoms.

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