Your kidneys are responsible for filtering minerals and fluids from your blood and urine. Over time, minerals can build up in your kidneys and form hardened masses, known as kidney stones. These stones are made of various materials, including calcium, oxalate and phosphate that are present in your daily diet. When you experience a kidney stone, increasing the amount of fluids can reduce painful symptoms. One fluid in particular -- lemonade -- may help to reduce kidney stone formation.
Lemons and Kidney Stones
The acids found in lemons contain citrate, which can help to inhibit kidney stone formation in your kidneys. However, kidney stones tend to be made from certain minerals, including calcium and oxalate. Citrate can help to neutralize these types of kidney stones, which tend to be the most common kinds. However, the citrate in lemonade may not help to reduce the formation of less-common kidney stones like struvite and cystine. When you experience a kidney stone, your physician may recommend collecting your urine or urinating with a paper collection funnel to catch your kidney stone or stones and send them to a lab for analysis.
Dosage
To help prevent kidney stones, the University of California San Diego Health System recommends adding 4 oz. of lemon juice to two liters of water per day. Drinking this amount of lemonade has been shown to reduce kidney stone formation between 1.00 to 0.13 stones per patient. This is beneficial because if you have one kidney stone, you have a 50 percent chance of experiencing another kidney stone within five to 10 years.
Fluid Benefits
In addition to lemonade's citric acid benefit, increasing your fluid intake can be beneficial in the treatment of kidney stones. If you have smaller kidney stones, your physician will recommend increasing your fluid intake. This can help to flush kidney stones through your urinary system. Drinking lemonade and other fluids also helps to prevent kidney stones because it dilutes your urine. When your urine is more concentrated, the minerals in your kidneys are more likely to build up and form kidney stones. By diluting your urine, these minerals are less likely to form kidney stones.
Considerations
Lemonade has one of the highest citrate contents of all juices. Other juice options, such as orange juice, do have citrate. However, other fruit juices contain less citrate and may be higher in calcium and oxalate than lemonade. Therefore, lemonade is one of your best fluid options.
References
- UC San Diego Health System; Five Ways to Prevent Kidney Stones: From Lemonade to Surgery; April 2010
- MayoClinic.com; Kidney Stones; January 2010
- "Los Angeles Times"; Lemonade to Ward Off Kidney Stones; Joe Graedon and Teresa Graedon; March 2010
- National Kidney & Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse; Kidney Stones in Adults; October 2007
