Shan Yin, researcher at the Affiliated Hospital in China mentioned that “Ours is the first study to report an association between added sugar consumption and kidney stones, it recommends that limiting added sugar consumption may help to prevent the formation of kidney stones.
From the National Health and Nutrition Examination, the investigators collected data on patients aged 20 and older who had a history of kidney stones and were able to recall dietary consumption on added sugars. This yielded a total of 28,303 patients with an average age of 48 years. Among all members, 47.74% were male and 52.26% were female. Kidney stones were prevalent 10.13% of all members.
Those involved in the study were asked to recall their dietary patterns, 24 hours prior during both, a face-to-face interview and a telephone interview which was given 3 to 10 days apart. Based on their recalled habits, members were given a healthy eating index score (HEI-2015) which reflected the capability of useful diet components included in their food consumption.
Among all members, the average energy intake from added sugars was 272.10 kilocalories, which is the equivalent of 13.2% of the total daily energy intake needed.
The data also proved that patients who had a higher consumption of added sugar were more likely to have a higher prevalence of kidney stones, a lower HEI-2015 score, than those with a lower intake. After adjusting for confounding variables such as age, HEI-2015 score, smoking status and other explanatory factors (OR= 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01-1.02), a positive connection remained between the percentage of energy intake from added sugar and kidney stones.
Members who were in the highest (4th) quartile of the study population based on added sugar consumption had a 39% high risk of developing kidney stones during a study period, compared with those in the lowest quartile (OR= 1.39; 95% CI, 1.17 to 1.65; P <.001)
Further, those whose added sugar consumption accounted for greater than 25% of their total daily energy had an 88% high risk of developing kidney stones compared with those who derived less than 5% of their total energy from added sugars (OR = 1.88;95% CI, 1.52 to 2.32; P<.001)
Yin said that “further studies are needed to explore the association between added sugar and various diseases or pathological conditions in detail, such as like what type of kidney stones are more connected with added sugar consumption or how much should we lessen our intake of added sugars to reduce the risk of kidney stone formation. However, our findings offer valuable understandings for decision -makers.”
