Taiwanese woman with over 300 kidney stones
Due to her beverage choices
A Taiwanese woman who has been drinking sugary beverages instead of water had over 300 kidney stones removed from her body.
According to reports, a Taiwanese woman in her twenties went to Chi Mei Hospital in Tainan, a city in southwestern Taiwan, last week for severe back pain and fever.
An X-ray showed that hundreds of large and small kidney stones had swollen her kidneys.
Reports uncovered that she had been avoiding water, opting to hydrate with sugary tea and juice from tea shops. This led to chronic dehydration and accumulation of minerals in her kidneys.
The medical team removed the kidney stones from her body through surgery. The stones ranged from 0.5cm to a maximum of 2cm in diameter, totaling over 300 stones.
Chi Mei Hospital in Taiwan reported the removal of over 300 kidney stones from the woman’s body. / Taiwan News
The medical team described it as an “extreme case demonstrating the risks of inadequate hydration and unhealthy dietary habits,” urging citizens to “drink plenty of water so that the body can properly process the intake of substances like sugar, salt, and calcium.”
Kidney stones are a disease where substances such as calcium, uric acid, and cystine in the urine form crystals in the kidneys (renal pelvis) and harden like stones. Kidneys produce the stones, and they traverse the urinary tract. While small stones can be naturally expelled through urine, larger ones, as they move, can create various issues within the organs comprising the urinary system.
Factors of kidney stones vary, including obesity, dehydration, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, and gout. However, the intake of added sugars, as in the above case, can also cause kidney stones.
People often choose refreshing fruit or carbonated beverages, especially during hot summer. However, these often contain added sugars in many processed foods, like sweetened carbonated drinks, fruit drinks, candies, ice cream, and snacks. Caution is essential to prevent kidney stones.
By. Jun Young Ahn
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