Kidney Stones

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KIDNEY STONES – CURING WITH NATURO-FOOD THERAPY

INTRODUCTION

What are Kidneys?

1.       The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, lying below the waist on either side of the spinal column on the back wall of the spinal column. They are soft, reddish brown in colour, and, on an average, measure 10 cm in length, 6 cm in width and are 2.5 cm thick at the centre. They are the filtering plant for purifying the blood, removing wastes and salts from it which are passed into the bladder as urine. Kidneys contain almost 65 km of tubes that process about 455 litres of blood daily. To do their job properly, kidneys need the right balance of liquids and dissolved solids. When this balance is out of whack, a kidney stone can form.

What are Kidney Stones?

2.       The formation of stones in the kidneys or urinary tract is a fairly common problem of metabolism involving chemical salts like calcium, oxalate, phosphate and uric acid. They may vary in consistency from grit sand and gravel like obstructions to the size of bird’s eggs. The stones may form and grow because the concentration of a particular salt in the urine exceeds its solubility and kidneys fail to filter properly or as a result of nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys). This disorder occurs frequently in middle age, with men being afflicted more often than women.

Types of Stones

3.       Chemically, urinary stones are of two types, namely, primary and secondary stones. Primary stones are ordinarily not due to infection and are formed in acidic urine. They usually result from alcoholism, sedentary lifestyle, constipation and excessive intake of nitrogenous or purine-rich foods. Purine, a nitrogenous compound, is the end product in the digestion of certain proteins in the diet, and majority is synthesised in the body through metabolic processes. Secondary stones are due to local infection and are formed in alkaline urine.

4.       Most kidney stones are composed of either calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate, the latter being most common in the presence of infection. About 90% of all stones contain calcium as the chief constituent. More than half of these are mixtures of calcium, ammonium, magnesium, phosphates and carbonates, while the remainder contain oxalate. Uric acid and cystine (sulphate) stones represent about 4% and 1% respectively of the total incidence of stones.