Consuming one or more servings of sweetened sodas a day increases the formation of kidney stones in one’s bladder. Alternatively, consuming coffee, tea, orange juice, wine or beer tends to reduce this risk.
Gary Curhan, senior author of the study, explains, “Our study found that the relation between fluid intake and kidney stones may be dependent on the type of beverage consumed. We found that higher consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks was associated with a higher incidence of kidney stones.”
Based on statistics compiled by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, kidney stone disorders affect at least a million Americans every year, and is one of the most common urinary tract infections.
A kidney stone disorder occur when substances which are passed through one’s urine build up over time in the urine tract and cause pain. A common solutions offered to patients is to drink a lot of water so as to dilute the waste substances that will turn into kidney stones.
In the study, which was published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, used data collected from questionnaires that were asked of 194095 individuals who didn’t have kidney stones.
Over time 4462 of these participants developed kidney stones and whom the researchers divided into categories based on what kind of beverages and how many servings they consumed every day.
While it isn’t fully clear why there exists a connection between kidney stones and sugary beverages, Dr. Curhan suggests that this could have to do with the body’s way of processing calcium.
Another explanation could be that sugary beverages is linked to obesity, and which in turn, is linked to kidney stones.