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Fizzy drinks, sweetened drinks, commercially produced juices and sodas are a curse of our times. How often we use these drinks even though we know how harmful they are to our health. We can give up eating cakes and cookies, fries and fast food, other unhealthy foods, but for most of us it can be really hard to give up using bottled juices or even the light but slightly sweetened soda. We are craving to drinking something good, something sweet, something we truly enjoy. Moreover, we all know how much little kids and teenagers love Cola and other fizzy drinks! Unfortunately, there are really plenty of health risks behind fizzy or sweetened drinks. It was believed that most of those are centered around getting extra calories, increasing our risks of obesity, serious cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and so on. However, the risks actually go far beyond just that.
A group of experts from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, U.S., has recently published their findings, pointing to the fact that consuming as little as just one fizzy or sugary drink a day is strictly linked to high risks of developing kidney stones. According to the report, in some people such risks can go as high as almost 25 per cent increased, due to drinking just 1 glass of cola or bottled juice a day. ‘Our study found that the relation between fluid intake and kidney stones may be dependent on the type of beverage consumed,” the study leader, Dr Gary Curhan, wrote in the report published earlier this month in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. And, he is convinced that a higher consumption of such kind of unhealthy drinks is definitely linked to much higher kidney stone risks, both in men and in women.
The findings were received by the scientific team from Boston hospital after detailed analysis of data on about 194,000 patients collected and recorded within an 8-year period of time. Most of the participants were patients of the hospital, but some were volunteers from other United States hospitals and other organizations. After processing the information, the scientists came to a conclusion that those who were consuming one glass of sugar sweetened drinks a day had 23 per cent higher kidney stone risks compared to those people who do not use such drinks at all. It is interesting that some members of the group assume that these risks are linked not only sweet drinks consumption, but also to using one serving a day of sweet drinks like punch or other non-fizzy drinks.
Moreover, it was found out that there is actually plenty of healthy beverages which can be consumed without fears and have no links with kidney stones or other related problems. The scientists recommend drinking sugar free tea and coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, other fruit and vegetable juices which are not commercially produced and can be considered 100 per cent additive free. ‘Our prospective study confirms that some beverages are associated with a lower risk of kidney stone formation, whereas others are associated with a higher risk,” said a co-authors of the study, Dr Pietro Manuel Ferraro, a nutritionist and an expert of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. He adds that consuming these healthy drinks can not only be a good solution to support our health, but can even assist in reducing kidney stone risks.
Kidney stones are quite a common health condition in our times, and it is estimated that every three in 20 men, as well as every one in 20 women can develop this health problem. Sometimes, kidney stones turn into something really very painful giving the sufferer no opportunity to relax and get rid of pain until the kidney stones are removed from the body. That is why it is very important for every one of us to be aware about the risks, know as much as possible about risk factors and do everything possible to reduce the effects of kidney stone risk factors on our health. Read more of related information in one of the latest issues of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.
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