“Drink alkaline water to prevent kidney stones formation” is a basic thing according to the Brady Urological Institute.
But, with this simple statement, kidney stones have become a big problem for both young and old right now.
Because there are also other factors of forming the kidney stone such as :
- Firstly, stones form when urine has a very high crystal concentration or not enough substances that prevent forming of crystals.
- The low urine pH may also contribute to calcium stone formation.
- Hypocitraturia – too little citrate level in the urine.
- Hyperuricosuria – too much uric acid crystals available in the urine.
- Hyperoxaluria – too much oxalate presence in the urine.
- Hypercalciuria – too much calcium present in the urine.
If you have kidney stone problems frequently with low urinary pH, then alkaline water may affect your urine’s pH level.
But before using alkaline water. You should consult with your doctor because there are several types of kidney stones, some may be prevented by using alkaline water, and some don’t.
So, let get detailed information about the kidney stone formation causes and its solutions.
Is alkaline water good to prevent kidney stones?
Your kidney works out the toxins from your body and filters the blood approx 70 times per day.
The liver helps to break the toxins safely, which the kidney can’t.
A high level of calcium, uric acid load, and oxalate or a low level of citrate in your urine leads to the form of kidney stones.
It balances pH level and neutralizes the acid reflux in your body then creates conditions unsuitable for kidney stones.
It changes the kidney’s pH level and makes the removal process much easier than before.
The ionized water is good for our body and keeps your kidney hydrated for optimal performance.
According to studies that pass 2 to 2.5 liters of urine per day, they have a 50% less chance of kidney stone formation than those who produce less.
You need to drink 8 to 10 8-ounce glasses (about 2 liters) of water per day to produce that quantity of alkaline urine.
Now, you can say that alkaline water is the best water for kidney stones and you can also use a Best Small Water Pitcher to get it.
Hyperuricosuria and hyperoxaluria kidney stones can treat by drinking water.
But first, consult with your doctor that which type of kidney stone you have.
Other advantages of alkaline water in kidney stones.
Water is most important for our body and well kidney function, even every cell.
As far as ionized water’s effect on our body is concerned, no one can deny its role in keeping us healthy.
The water pitcher is the easiest way to get pure water, so we find the Top 10 Best Alkaline Water Pitcher 2022 from different categories and capacities.
There are some other benefits by which you can get what alkaline water does for the body.
- Maintain pH level and neutralize the acid in your body and avoid acidic foods.
- Drinking regular water helps to increase energy levels.
- Alkaline water keeps our body more hydrating than regular pure water.
- Help to reduce the signs of increasing age.
- It is suggested as an inclusive antioxidant to keep hydrated.
- Water can filter out free radicals from your body.
- It can also starve cancer cells in the body.
- More fresh alkaline water decreases the acid load from the blood and can improve metabolism.
- Alkaline water also improves digestive function.
- It can reduce bone loss effects and support our immune system.
After knowing this, you must be thinking that you will get regular water from where. So, my friend gets the best contaminant removal water pitcher, and you will get it easily.
Alkaline water side effects
Although, alkaline water is good for kidney stones but may have some side effects on the body.
So, keep reading to know the side effects:
- In a few cases, it reduces the natural stomach acidity.
- Alkaline water raises our body’s alkalinity, which can make skin sensitive.
- Muscle twitching
- Nausea/vomiting
- Tremors
- Hand tremors
- Tingling in the face, arms, or legs
- Confusion
How do kidney stones develop?
Kidney stones form when some substances like oxalate, calcium, and acid create small crystals in urine.
Those crystals grow larger and take over weeks or months or years to form stones in the kidney.
Up to 75% of total kidney stones are calcium oxalate kidney stones.
In America, approximately 9% of adults have a lifetime risk of kidney stones. That has been rising in the USA for the past 30 years.
It is normal between both males and females. And can form again in half of those who developed it in their past.
Kidney stones can displace and pass down to the ureter, blocking your urine flow.
Due to this, you can feel severe pain and discomfort, pain between the stomach and your back.
With global warming, the environment warms, and people get dehydrated more likely, which increases the risk of calcium stones.
What causes kidney stones?
1. Hyperoxaluria – (Your urine has too many oxalate substances)– Calcium oxalate stones form when excess oxalate substances are present in the urine and/or not taking sufficient calcium from the food.
Your doctor advises you to eat a low oxalate diet with a normal calcium intake.
2. Hypercalciuria – (There is too much calcium present in the urine)Your doctor treats this by prescribing medicines to reduce calcium excretion.
Calcium binds to sodium substances in the urine. So, increased sodium levels also increase the amount of calcium in your urine.
That’s why your doctor advises you to take low sodium alkaline foods. Keep in mind that you need to take standard input of calcium even with hypercalciuria.
The use of alkaline water can help to decrease calcium excretion by increasing urine pH.
3. Hypocitraturia – (Citrate deficiency in the urine) –The citrate molecule works to bind the calcium in the urine and reduce the forming stones in the kidneys.
According to some evidence, urine citrate levels can increase by drinking citrus fruit juices like lemon water and orange juice.
You may use an effective Brita filter for clean drinking water to increase the alkalinity of lemonade and orange juice to reduce the risk of kidney stones.
This mixture gives you both citrate and alkalinity, where alkaline water will increase the pH scale of juices.
4. Hyperuricosuria – (Excess of uric acid crystals in the urine) – Excessive protein intake can increase too much acidic urine.
You may advise taking low protein alkaline foods from your doctor, and alkaline water can help dilute uric acid levels.
5. Low Urine pH level – (acidic urine) – Low urinary pH is also a cause to form kidney stones, so the doctor can advise some medicine to increase pH.
You can start drinking alkaline water to increase pH; with this, you may have less chance to form kidney stones.
Your doctor will observe the urine pH scale and make his strategy for the next steps.
Diagnosis of kidney stones
If you have a suspect kidney stone, you may carry out diagnostic tests and methods:
1. Blood test:
The blood test can monitor your kidney health and also helps to know the level of calcium or uric acid in your blood.
2. Urine test:
A urine test gives us information about stone-forming minerals or stone-blocking substances.
The doctor may advise that you collect two urine samples over two back-to-back days when running this test.
3. Imaging:
You can get an image of tiny kidney stones from the urinary tract.
But normal abdominal X-rays may miss small kidney stones.
4. Analysis of passed stones:
If you have already had kidney stone problems in the past, your doctor may advise you to urinate from a strainer to capture stones.
It will help define the prime cause of forming stones and also help to prepare to stop more kidney stones from forming.
Types of kidney stones
There are four types of kidney stones which may be small as a grain or large as a pea.
It can be like golf balls and smooth or jagged, having a yellow or brown color.
| Classifications of Kidney Stones | ||||
| Stone Type | Frequency | Crystal Form | X-ray Characteristic | Risk factors |
| Calcium oxalate +/- phosphate | 75% | Envelope | Radiopaque | Low urine volume Hyperoxaluria Hypocitraturia Hypercalciuria Hyperuricosuria |
| Calcium phosphate (Brushite) | 5% | Amorphous | Radiopaque | Hyperphosphaturia Hypercalciuria Raised urine pH |
| Uric acid | 10% | Diamond or barrel | Radiolucent | Hyperuricosuria Low urine volume Low urine pH |
| Struvite | 10% | Coffin-lid | Radiopaque | Urinary tract infection (Urease splitting organism) |
| Cystine Stone | 1% | Hexagon | Faintly radiopaque | Autosomal recessive disorder |
Calcium Stones
Calcium Oxalate Stones
It is the most common kind of kidney stone most people have. It occurs in individuals who have high levels of oxalate in their urine.
Approx 40–60% of calcium stones are forming due to hypercalciuria.
Hyperoxaluria condition arises from increased oxalate absorption from the gut or taking high-level oxalate food.
As we described, good hydration is most important to prevent calcium kidney stones.
So, you can use alkaline water to treat calcium oxalate kidney stones.
A randomized clinical trial proved that people who have calcium stones should not reduce their dietary calcium.
They need to take their daily recommended calcium regularly:-
- Take 1,000 mg/day for men under 70 years and women under 50.
- Take 1,200 mg/day for men over 70 and women over 50.
Calcium binds the oxalate and prevents its absorption in the gut, and urine has a low rate to form the bladder stone.
So before getting any calcium supplement, you need your doctor.
Consume high oxalates food in moderation quantities such as (potatoes, tea, nuts, and spinach) which may increase oxalate levels in your urine.
Calcium Phosphate Stones
As compared to calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate stones are not common.
There are two main causes of phosphate stones:-
- Hyperparathyroidism – It occurs when your body produces a parathyroid hormone in large.
- Renal tubular acidosis – Your kidney starts buildup acid in the body with this condition and may cause urinary tract infections.
That is most important to find the right cause behind the formation of kidney stones.
Alkaline water can keep you more hydrated and help to reduce forming calcium kidney stones.
Besides, hydrochlorothiazide helps the kidney to absorb maximum calcium. As a result, it maintains less in the urine and can prevent kidney stones.
Uric acid stones
Probably, maximum people who have uric acid stones don’t have too much acid level.
Instead, their urine has much more acidic.
When it occurs, then natural acid levels dissolve into the urine and form into the stones.
Doctors commonly use potassium citrate to maintain the alkaline urine pH and reduce uric acid stone formation chance.
People who have uric acid stones with high-level acid reflux. They advised eating less animal protein.
Potassium citrate can also help to dissolve existing kidney stones.
Struvite Stones
Struvite stones are more common in women and are a composite of phosphate, magnesium, and ammonium.
It can connect with your chronic urinary tract infections.
Behind the formation of struvite stone, there can be some microorganisms like Staphylococcus, Klebsiella, Proteus, and Pseudomonas.
These bacteria hydrolyze urea and contribute to increasing the alkalinity of urine by producing NH4 + and OH-ions.
Cystine Stones
It is an inheritable autosomal recessive disorder (a genetic condition) of amino acid transport.
As a result of this disorder, cysteine level (an amino acid) increases too high in urine and slowly becomes cystine stone.
Maximum cystine stones can manage by improving good hydration with alkaline water and balancing urine pH with the medications.
Stone development is the only clinical sign of this disorder, which can happen at any age, between 20–40 years.
Uric acid stones treatment options for kidney stones
Stones less than 5 mm often pass out of the urine on their own, and from 5mm to 10mm stones have less than a 50% chance to pass out.
We can use endoscopes or shock waves treatment in the following situations.
- The bladder stone is bigger than 10 mm.
- If the kidney stone does not come out on its own.
- Facing some complications.
- The stone must need to be dissolved.
- Unbearable pain.
How to prevent getting kidney stones?
Although kidney stones are common but recur once someone has had them. Then you have to do some simple actions to prevent them from happening.
Below we are providing some strategies that may help:
Use sodium intake cautiously
A sodium-rich diet can trigger kidney stones forming because it increases the volume of calcium in the urine.
According to federal guidelines, you need to limit 2,300 mg sodium per day.
If sodium was the main cause of your kidney stones, then you should cut down on your sodium consumption to 1,500 mg.
Eat less animal protein:
Eating a lot of animal protein like eggs, beef, chicken, seafood, acidic foods, and meat can raise the levels of uric acid.
If you’re prone to kidney stones, then cut down you’re daily meat-eating.
Moonstone is great tasting alkali citrate product that works well to improve kidney health.
It is available in powder forms and is effective with an active lifestyle to maintain overall kidney function.
Don’t Underestimate Your Sweat.
Heavy exercise, yoga, and heat can release more water through sweat and produce less urine.
The more you sweat, the less you urinate, due to which the mineral crystals can grow larger and form in kidney stones.
To reduce the risk and urinating a lot, drink plenty of alkaline water for kidney stones.
So, be hydrated during exercise or heavy activities that produce a lot of sweating.
Drink alkaline water to reduce kidney stones.
According to many studies, those people who produce 2 to 2.5 liters of urine per day have a 50 percent less chance to grow kidney stones than those who produced less urine.
You have to drink approx 8 to 10 8-ounce glasses (about 2 liters) of filtered water per day to produce that volume of urine.
Avoid high oxalate food.
You need to avoid high oxalate food such as potatoes, tea, nuts, spinach, beets, and almonds that can increase the quantity of oxalate in the body.
But you can use a balanced quantity of low-oxalate foods, like chocolate and berries, which are okay to use.
Conclusion
You can use Brita or Zero water pitcher to get alkaline pure drinking water.
Alkaline water makes your body more hydrated, and good hydration is a useful therapy for all types of kidney stones.
It provides necessary calcium and maintains body pH level, but only your doctor will decide whether it is right for you or not.
You need to discuss with a urologist to evaluate and treat if you have had a history of kidney stones.
And finally, don’t forget the importance of a healthy diet in your life.
I hope you got some valuable information from this article If you want to improve something. So, please let me know………