Kidney stones are pebble-like, hard formations inside the kidneys which may be anywhere from smaller than one grain of rice, to bigger than a golf ball. The most typical cause of them is high urinary calcium that’s the case around 80 percent of the time. The stones form as calcium oxalate attaches to calcium phosphate inside the kidney’s tissues that then likely detach into the urine then continuously amasses to the point it may become a painful and large blockage in your urinary tract.

There also is the possibility of stones forming inside urine, even though more studies are necessary to confirm this.

Magnesium for The Treatment and Prevention of Kidney Stones

As it’ll come to treating or preventing kidney stones, something you ought to give consideration to is magnesium– a mineral well-known to assist in regulating nerve and muscle function, blood pressure and blood sugar levels, in conjunction with aiding in the production of bone, protein and DNA.

Plus, magnesium citrate also is effective at inhibiting the kind of crystals that comprise kidney stones.

Magnesium will keep calcium dissolved inside the blood, so it won’t form kidney stones. Consuming calcium without magnesium for osteoporosis may promote kidney stones.

As a matter of fact, magnesium levels inside the body often are an important biomarker of urinary health and stability, and while there isn’t any clear proof as to why that is, it might have to do with magnesium’s association with vitamin B6. As vitamin B6 might decrease the quantity of stone-causing oxalic acid inside the body, and as magnesium is well-known to protect your body’s supply of B6, it might be the reason magnesium will work so well at decreasing the reoccurrence and occurrence of renal stones.

Best Magnesium Food Sources

As it’ll come to adding magnesium to a diet, there are a few fantastic tasting foods to enjoy which will assist in getting enough from your diet. They include:

• Nuts, like cashews, sunflower seeds, and almonds. But, keep in mind that salt may worsen your renal stone risk, so unsalted nuts are better.
• Vegetables, like beets, broccoli, or kale.
• Meats, like wild-caught seafood, poultry, or grass-fed beef.
• Dairy and eggs.
• Fruits, like pears, cherries, or bananas.

Adding those foods to your diet is an excellent method of increasing your magnesium intake in conjunction with additional nutrients within their most bioavailable form. But, remember that processed and cooked foods have lower levels of magnesium than unprocessed and raw foods, and magnesium often is depleted in modernized soils, and may be non-existent within fertilizers. That means modern foods might have lower values of it.

Traditionally grown vegetables, fruits, meats and dairy also oftentimes contain herbicides, pesticides, added hormones, and may be genetically modified; therefore, it’s in your best interest to stay away from them and instead choose more organic and natural food sources.

For more information on our San Antonio functional medicine center please feel free to get in touch with Imagine Wellness right away!