Experts now believe that iced tea may be to blame for painful kidney stones

Kidney stones, the hard masses that result in pain and discomfort until the stones pass through your urinary tract, are formed when minerals collect in the filtering portions of the kidneys. Research has shown that men are four times more likely to develop kidney stones than women, and the risk rises over the age of 40. Experts now believe that drinking iced tea may contribute to this painful condition.

John Milner, a urologist at Loyola Medical Center in Chicago, warns that iced tea contains high concentrations of oxalate, a key chemical that can lead to kidney stones. One of the reasons that tea may cause kidney stones is that it contains more than 10mg of oxalates per 1/2 cup serving, according to Jackson Siegelbaum Gastroenterology.

Oxalates are found in a number of other foods such as chocolate, spinach, beets and nuts. Calcium in your diet can bind with oxalate in your intestines and prevent calcium from being absorbed in your bones. This in turn causes your kidneys to excrete more oxalates. When the oxalates reach the kidneys and bind with calcium, they can form calcium oxalate kidney stones. According to Dr. Milner, people may want to consider drinking fluids other than iced tea to avoid kidney stones:

People are told that in the summertime they should drink more fluids. A lot of people choose to drink more iced tea, because it is low in calories and tastes better than water. However, in terms of kidney stones, they might be doing themselves a disservice.

Another common cause of kidney stones is dehydration. The combined effects of dehydration from the summer heat and insufficient amount of fluids, together with excessive consumption of iced tea can increase a person’s chance of developing kidney stones.

So while drinking tea, specifically green tea, has been proven to provide tons of health benefits, if you’ve had kidney stones before you may want to limit the amount of iced tea you drink.

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