Summary
Kidney stones appear to be connected with weight gain, according to a study appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. One of the authors of the study, Dr. Eric N. Taylor, says, “In terms of kidney stone risk, people should really maintain a healthy weight.”
Original source:
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/01/25/hscout523600.html
Details
Scientists have uncovered yet another reason to maintain a healthy weight: Obesity and weight gain are linked with an increased risk of developing kidney stones.
"There's no question about it [that kidney stones are linked to obesity]," said Dr. Glenn Preminger, a professor of urologic surgery at Duke University and director of the Duke Comprehensive Kidney Stone Center.
Preminger co-authored a study with similar findings that appeared in July in the Journal of Urology.
Previous research had shown an association between body mass index (BMI) and the risk of developing kidney stones in older women.
Taylor and his colleagues tracked 250,000 medical professionals with no history of kidney stones who were participating in three large groups: The Health Professionals Follow-up Study, the Nurses' Health Study begun in 1976 and the Nurses' Health Study begun in 1989.
After adjusting for other factors, they found that men weighing more than 220 pounds had a 44 percent increased risk of developing kidney stones compared with men weighing less than 150 pounds.
Women with the largest waist circumferences had a 71 percent greater risk of kidney stones compared with women with the lowest waist circumferences.
Scientists had wondered if higher lean body mass as opposed to higher fat or adiposity was the critical link with kidney stones.
"Given that most weight gain in adulthood is due to increases in fat, rather than muscle or bone, the relation between weight gain and increased
risk suggests that fat tissue plays an important role in kidney stone formation," Taylor said.
It's not clear what the underlying biological mechanism is, but recent research has suggested that insulin resistance, a growing problem in a growing (weight-wise) society, may have an effect on urine composition.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, and he has created several downloadable courses on survival and preparedness, including his widely-downloaded course on personal safety and self-defense. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He's also a noted technology pioneer and founded a software company in 1993 that developed the HTML email newsletter software currently powering the NaturalNews subscriptions. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training.
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Email this article to a friend
Share
this article on: 
