High sugar intake associated with higher risk of kidney stones, study says

31 August 2023

A new study involving over 28,000 participants published in Frontiers in Nutrition found that high sugar consumption increases the risk of kidney stones.

The study used data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and included 28,303 adults in the US, males and females, between 2007 and 2018. The participants filled in their daily sugar intake and food consumption. Later they were given a healthy index score summarizing their dietary intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, refined grains, saturated fats and sodium, Nutrition Insights reports. 

After adjusting for factors such as age, smoking, body mass index and diabetes history, the researchers found that people with the highest sugar intake showed a 39% more likelihood of getting kidney stones. Moreover, people getting 25% of their total energy from sugar had a 88% higher likelihood of having this problem than those whose dietary percentage of sugare was only 5%.