Obesity Linked To Formation of Uric Acid Kidney Stones

Author: Vik s

Researchers have found that the more overweight a person is the more at risk he or she is of forming uric acid kidney stones.

These findings for the first time directly link excess body weight with the condition, found in about 5 percent of kidney-stone patients and in about 30 percent of diabetics with kidney stones.

Kidney stones are solid deposits that form in the kidneys from substances excreted in urine. When waste materials in urine do not dissolve completely, microscopic particles begin to form and over time grow into kidney stones.

These stones may remain in the kidney or break loose and travel down the urinary tract. Small stones may pass out of the body naturally, but a larger stone can get stuck in a ureter, the bladder or the urethra, possibly blocking the flow of urine and often causing intense pain.

Uric acid kidney stones develop when the urine's acid level is too high, this usually happens from the ingestion of too much dietary animal protein or when there are insufficient amounts of buffers to neutralize acid in the urine. Larger people have very acidic urine even when they control their diets, for the first time, weight loss is being advised to patients as part of their therapy. That connection had never been made in the past.

A study concluded that uric acid stones also are associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Heavier people tend to have more insulin resistance. The discovery of a link between body weight and uric acid kidney stone formation is very significant.

The term 'gouty diathesis' was coined to describe uric acid stones forming in the absence of any discernible cause. It's now known that one of the causes is obesity that leads to insulin resistance and diabetes. The challenge for the research team is to determine whether weight loss and/or sensitization to insulin would bring about a relief of stone formation.