Sugary Drinks May Increase a Person's Risk of Developing Kidney Stones: A Study

Soda and other sugary drinks may increase a person’s chances of developing kidney stones, according to a new study published in Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

“Our study found that the relation between fluid intake and kidney stones may be dependent on the type of beverage consumed,” Dr. Gary Curhan, a physician in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and senior author of the study, said in a press release. “We found that higher consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks was associated with a higher incidence of kidney stones.”

The study looked at nearly 200,000 participants from three ongoing cohorts over a median follow-up of more than 8 years.

Participants in all three groups were asked to complete questions two times a year regarding their medical history, lifestyle and medication with questions regarding diet updated every four years.

In all, the researchers found that those individuals who consumed one or more sugar-sweetened cola servings per day had a 23 percent higher risk of developing kidney stones when compared to those who had less than one serving per week.

And while this number increased to 33 percent for sugar-sweetened noncolas, the scientists nevertheless found that some beverages, including coffee, tea, beer, wine and orange juice, were associated with a lower risk of stone formation.

Ultimately, 20 percent of men and 10 percent of women living in the United States will experience a kidney stone at some point in their lifetime, according to the researchers. Of that number, many will be advised to drink more fluids in order to prevent future stone formation.

However, as Dr. Pietro Manuel Ferraro, a physician at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome and corresponding author of the study, explains, “Although higher total fluid intake reduces the risk of stone formation, this information about individual beverages may be useful for general practitioners seeking to implement strategies to reduce stone formation in their patients."