Drinking Iced Tea Elevates Kidney Stones Risk: Urologist

If you love iced tea, it could be time for you to give up that love - a urologist has warned that drinking it excessively could lead to kidney stones.

Iced tea contains high concentrations of oxalate, one of the key chemicals that lead to the formation of kidney stones.

Quiz on Kidney
The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist, and are located just below the rib cage, one on each side of your spine.

Healthy kidneys filter about half a cup of blood every minute, removing wastes and extra water to make urine. The urine flows from the kidneys to the bladder through two thin tubes of muscle called ureters, one on each side of your bladder. The bladder stores urine. The kidneys, ureters, and bladder are partof the urinary tract.

kidneys remove wastes and extra fluid from your body. Kidneys also remove acid that is produced by the cells of your body and maintain a healthy balance of water, salts, and minerals-such as sodium, calcium, phosphorus and potassium-in your blood ().

Kidney stones - Colics due to a moving Kidney stone
Interactive section of Medindia explains Colics due to a moving Kidney stone

Without this balance, nerves, muscles, and other tissues in the body may not work normally.

Kidneys also make hormones that help

Control your blood pressure
Make red blood cells
Keep your bones strong and healthy

Though hot tea also contains oxalate, it isn't as easy to consume a quantity large enough amount to encourage the formation of stones.

Know The Urinary System
Interactive section of Medindia gives general information about Male Urinary System.

"For people who have a tendency to form kidney stones, it's definitely one of the worst things you can drink," said Dr. John Milner, assistant professor, Department of Urology, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, Ill.

Men, postmenopausal women with low oestrogen levels and women who have had their ovaries removed are at a higher risk than others.

Urinary Stone Prevention - Dos & Don'ts
Tips to prevent urinary stone formation. Drink at least 6-8 glasses of water daily. Those living in warmer places should drink up to 8-10 glasses of water daily.

Kidney stones are small crystals that form from the minerals and salt normally found in the urine in the kidneys or ureter, the small tubes that drain urine from the kidney to the bladder.

Usually they can be expelled from the body harmlessly, but those big in size become lodged in the ureter.

Iced tea is a highly popular drink in summers considering it's tastier than most other fluids, but Milner suggests there's nothing better than water, maybe flavoured with lemon slices.

"Lemons are very high in citrates, which inhibit the growth of kidney stones," Milner said.

Spinach, chocolate, rhubarb, nuts, salt and meat should be avoided as they encourage stones, he said.

And calcium rich foods, which reduce the amount of oxalate the body absorbs, plus water, are a must.

Source-ANI