DASH Diet May Help Prevent Kidney Stones

A standard healthy diet may help prevent kidney stones as well as a special diet, a small study suggests. People who have had kidney stones often are advised to eat a diet low in “oxalate.” This chemical binds to calcium to form the most common type of stone. But the diet also prohibits many healthy foods. Researchers randomly divided 51 people into 2 groups. One group followed a low-oxalate diet. The other followed the DASH diet, which helps prevent high blood pressure. This diet is high in fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy and whole grains. It is low in fat, salt, sugar and meat. In all, 41 people completed the 8-week study. People on the DASH diet had more oxalates in their urine than those on the low-oxalate diet. But the DASH group was less likely to have oxalates bound to calcium in the urine. These are the compounds that form stones.