Cutting down on added sugar may help you avoid kidney stones

Consuming higher amounts of added sugar may increase your risk of developing kidney stones, results of a recent study suggest.

A team of international researchers looked at 2007-2018 data from a nationally representative group of more than 28,000 adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The participants’ average daily consumption of added sugar equaled around 272 calories.

People who consumed the highest amounts of added sugar had a 39% increased risk of developing kidney stones compared with the participants who consumed the lowest amounts. Additionally, participants whose added sugar intake accounted for more than a quarter of their total daily energy had an 88% increased risk of developing kidney stones compared with those who got less than 5% of their total energy from added sugar.

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 100 calories from added sugar a day for women and no more than 150 calories for men. Results of a previous study show that around 10% of people in the United States will have kidney stones in their lifetime.

“Ours is the first study to report an association between added sugar consumption and kidney stones,” said lead study author Shan Yin, a researcher at the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College in Nanchong, China. “It suggests that limiting added sugar intake may help to prevent the formation of kidney stones.”

The study was published online in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.