A rise in kidney stones cases among children has some experts questioning whether a poor diet is to blame.
Medical professionals have been grappling with rising instances of kidney stone disease among young people. Some experts point to genetics as the culprit, while others speculate the cause is insufficient water intake or even the preponderance of diets made up of ultra-processed foods.
“We see, everyday, children presenting with kidney stones. The thought is that kids don’t get stones. That’s like, the last thing you may think about when a child has pain somewhere as a symptom,” said Zachary V. Zuniga, a pediatric urologist at Texas Children’s Hospital, per The Washington Post.
Americans, on average, obtain around 60% of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods, according to registered dietitian nutritionist Ilana Muhlstein. For children, the number is even higher at 70%.
In 2016, a study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology examined kidney stone rates among 15- to 19-year-olds in South Carolina. The study concluded that instances jumped 23% for boys over five years from 1997 through 2021.
For girls, the increase during that period was even more dramatic at 28%.
One North Carolina doctor, John S. Wiener, a pediatric urologist at Duke Health, believes high levels of salt, often found in ultra-processed foods, could be the reason for the uptick.
“There is so much added salt to the American diet today, and when the kidney is excreting the sodium, it pulls calcium with it and increases the risk of calcium-based stones,” said Wiener.
Dehydration can also contribute to kidney stone formation. Children are particularly susceptible to dehydration through sweating. As fluid is depleted in the body, a higher concentration of minerals in the urine occurs, creating an optimal environment for kidney stones to form.