Kidney stone is a very common disease in urinary collecting system, with prevalence rate about 10%. Male patients has 3 times risk than female patients to have urolithiasis.

Kidney stones are consisted of different components. The common component is Calcium. Other components include oxalic acid or phosphoric acid. Some uncommon kidney stone is caused by infection, called struvite or infective stones.

The names of the stones are after the location where the stones are found, such as kidney stones, ureteral calculi, and bladder calculi.

How to Prevent Calculi

If you had experience of urolithiasis before, you are more likely to have another one in the future. Thus, prevention is crucial.

• Changes of Living Habbits:

1. Drink lots of water: Drink 2,500 C.C of liquid throughout the day daily and a glass of water before bed.
2. Limit the intake of salt
3. Balanced diet, with less meat.
4. More intake of fruits containing citric acid, such as pineapple, oranges, mandarins, pomelo, lemon juice, and grapefruit.
5. Take prescription medicine.

• Drinks and Food Containing Oxalic acid

Patients with a history of calcium oxalate stones should limit the intake of beets, spinach, chocolate, okra, cocoa, coffee, coke, walnut, rhubarb, strawberries, tea, wheat bran, and peanuts. Talk to your doctors for more details.

• Patients with uric-acid calculus should limit the intake of the following food:

1. Meat and eggs: chicken liver, chicken intestine, duck liver, pig liver, small intestine, pig spleen, cow liver.
2. Fish: Silver carp, Spanish mackerel, mullet, milk fish, tilapia, white pomfret, moonfish, amber fish, hairtail, eel, squid, shrimp, oyster, clam, shark, scallop, dried fish, dried flounder, mullet skin, and hairtail skin.
3. Beans: soy beans, beans that sprout.
4. Vegetables: bean sprouts, soy bean sprouts, asparagus, purple seaweed, and mushrooms.
5. Fat: Meat stock, meat gravy, beef stock, chicken stock, yeast, hotpot stock.