Salt is in almost everything we eat. Whether you cook at home, eat at restaurants, or go with pre-made foods, you'll often find yourself faced with a situation where you are consuming a lot of salt. This can be a problem if you frequently have problems with calcium oxalate stones.
How Calcium Oxalate Stones Form
What's important to know is the fact that oxalate is found in all kinds of foods including fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains. What happens is that the oxalate and calcium bind to each other to form the stones. This is the reason why so many people suffering from the condition.
Like many people, you may think that you'd have to consume less oxalate and calcium to prevent the stones from forming. But did you know that salt can also have an impact on stone formation?
What Role Does Salt Play in All This?
Sodium is a contributor to the problem that is easily overlooked. For some people, it may be the main contributor of the stones. How it works is that consuming more sodium will result in you removing more of the calcium you consume through urine.
Because more calcium is being released through urine, the chances of stones forming are increased. This is the reason why some people still continue to form the salt stones even with a stone-friendly diet. They have an increased amount of calcium oxalate in urine due to a high salt diet.
How to Control the Amount of Sodium Intake
If you're among the people that thought were doing everything to prevent the buildup of stones and still suffering from the painful condition, take another look at your diet. Sodium is hidden in many foods. This includes foods like bread, ham, nuts, and canned foods.
It's usually better to cook your own food to reduce calcium oxalate in urine. Restaurants are notorious for using very high amounts of salt in their dishes. Even packaged foods like salads that may seem harmless usually have high sodium levels. For example, the sodium is usually hidden in the ingredients such as the dressing, cheeses, and croutons.
You also want to measure kidney urine pH. There is a strong correlation between high kidney urine pH and an increase in the formation of stones. If your urine pH is high, then it's a sign that you need to come up with a new diet or take a second look at your existing diet.
In conclusion, you have to look at how much salt you are consuming if you are still dealing with calcium oxalate stones despite you doing all the right things. Track and change your salt intake and see how that affects your condition over the next few months.
