Kidney stones causes

The leading cause of kidney stones is a lack of water. Stones commonly have been found in those that drink less than the recommended eight to ten glasses of water a day. When you don't drink enough water, the salts, minerals, and other substances in the urine can stick together and form a stone.
Kidney stones may form when the normal balance of water, salts, minerals, and other substances found in urine changes.How this balance changes determines the type of kidney stone you have.

Men are four times more likely to get kidney stones than women, and if you have previously had a kidney stone then you will have a 50 percent chance of developing another one within five years.
K idney stones can run in families, as stones often occur in family members over several generations.

Kidney stones cause:

- if You don't drink enough fluids
- if You eat a diet high in protein
- if You have only one kidney, or an abnormally shaped kidney
- Medical conditions can affect the normal balance and cause stones to form. Gout is one example.
- people who have inflammatory bowel disease or who have had surgery on their intestines may not absorb fat from their intestines in a normal way. This changes the way the intestines process calcium and other minerals, and it may lead to kidney stones.

Kidney stones prevention

Preventive strategies include dietary modifications and sometimes also taking drugs with the goal of reducing excretory load on the kidneys:

- Drinking enough water to make 2 to 2.5 liters of urine per day.
- A diet low in protein, nitrogen and sodium intake.
- Restriction of oxalate-rich foods, such as chocolate, nuts, soybeans, rhubarb and spinach, plus maintenance of an adequate intake of dietary calcium. There is equivocal evidence that calcium supplements increase the risk of stone formation, though calcium citrate appears to carry the lowest, if any, risk.
- Taking drugs such as thiazides, potassium citrate, magnesium citrate and allopurinol, depending on the cause of stone formation.
- Some fruit juices, such as orange, blackcurrant, and cranberry, may be useful for lowering the risk factors for specific types of stones. Orange juice may help prevent calcium oxalate stone formation, black currant may help prevent uric acid stones, and cranberry may help with UTI-caused stones.
- Avoidance of cola beverages.
- Avoiding large doses of vitamin C.