Beer May Decrease Risk of Kidney Stones, While Sugary Drinks May Increase It

While researchers have found that consuming copious amounts of sugary drinks may increase your risk of developing kidney stones, they've also discovered that drinking beer may decrease it, CBS News reported.

In a new Mayo Clinic study, scientists analyzed data from three pools of ongoing studies, which involved more than 194,000 people.

Participants in the studies were asked to fill out biennial questionnaires with information of their health, medical history and lifestyles, then were followed up on for a median of eight years.

Data results found that those who drank one or more sugary cola drinks per day had a 23 percent higher chance of developing kidney stones than those who said they drank less than one sugary drink a week. For those that drank sugary drinks such as fruit punch daily, the risk increase was 33 percent.

"If there's a huge number of people consuming it, then the magnitude on the public health can be quite substantial," senior study author Dr. Gary Curhan, a kidney researcher in the department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, said to Reuters.

On the other hand, the study reported that people who drank beer and wine frequently had a 41 percent and 33 percent lower risk of developing kidney stones in comparison to those who did not consume alcoholic beverages. Researchers also found that caffeinated coffee lowered the risk of stones by 26 percent, in comparison to decaf coffee (16 percent lower), tea (11 percent) and orange juice (12 percent). 

According to the authors of the new study, published May 15 in Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, around 20 percent of U.S. men and 10 percent of U.S. women will develop a kidney stone at least once in their lifetime. Every year more than 300,000 Americans go to the emergency room for kidney stones, and more than a million people visit their doctor for them, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Dr. Michael Palese, associate professor of urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, spoke to HealthDay about the research, of which he was not involved.

"While there is no conclusive evidence to show that sugary drinks alone cause kidney stones, other associations with the consumption of sugary beverages has been reported," Palese said. "This includes diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity, which have also been linked to the formation of kidney stones."