Did turmeric give me kidney stones?

In this episode of the Kidney Stone Diet podcast, hosts Jeff Sarris and Jill Harris discuss the implications of turmeric consumption on kidney stone formation, emphasizing its high oxalate content. They highlight the importance of moderation and calcium intake while debunking the myth that turmeric pills are necessary for inflammation. The conversation shifts to the critical role of hydration in preventing kidney stones, outlining the recommended water intake and dietary adjustments needed for effective prevention.

Takeaways

Turmeric is considered a superfood but is high in oxalate.
Moderation is key; portion control is essential.
Calcium intake can help lower urine oxalate levels.
Turmeric can be used as a seasoning, not as a staple.
Water intake is the most important factor in preventing kidney stones.
A low salt diet is crucial for kidney stone prevention.
Patients should aim for 2.5 to 3 liters of urine output daily.
Hydration needs vary based on individual lifestyle and conditions.
Avoid high oxalate foods like spinach and almonds initially.
Kidney stone prevention requires a comprehensive approach, not just focusing on oxalates.

00:00 Understanding Turmeric and Kidney Stones
04:53 Prioritizing Hydration for Kidney Stone Prevention

Did turmeric give me kidney stones? Let’s talk about that.

It’s sort of a superfood. I mean, it feels like it comes up in a lot of areas when people are looking to improve their health.

The Superfood Problem

Yes. Everybody’s taking turmeric capsules and pills and putting it in their smoothies all of that and so whenever we have something that becomes popular or known as a superfood we as human beings tend to overeat it because more of the superfood will make us feel more super and that’s how a lot of you got kidney stones as you will know with almonds and spinach. And turmeric definitely, there’s special things that they called them golden milk and something or other when they’re making shots, isn’t it? So it’s like I think it’s golden milk.

Yeah, that’s right. Yes.

Turmeric Is High in Oxalate

So yeah, so people overuse turmeric and it is high in oxalate. Now, Harvard did not study it, but every other list that has studied turmeric will say it’s high. So here’s what I say. Again, portion not perfection. Can you use it? Of course, I work with patients in India and it is a staple in their diet, obviously. And so they’re super bummed to find out that, you know, it’s really high in oxalate. And one of the reasons they got kidney stones by doing a urine collection, they know they have high urine oxalate and they’re not getting any calcium. So if you’re overusing turmeric and you’re not getting any calcium, it will definitely cause, it can cause high urine oxalate.

So the trick is this. It doesn’t mean you can never have food that has turmeric in it. You certainly can. You just can’t have it every day. You can’t have it in the amount, any amount that you want. And always remember to get your calcium needs met. Calcium will lower urine oxalate. That’s why we tell you to do that. And that’s part of the Kidney Stone Diet anyway, one of those goals.

Skip the Turmeric Pills

But so also, people to cut down on inflammation have been told by a lot of different doctors, holistic doctors, naturopaths to take turmeric pills. Would they be high in oxalate? Yes, they would. So I am not a fan of doing that. As far as inflammation goes, eat healthy. Follow the kidney stone diet. You’ll be lowering salt. You’ll be lowering sugar. You’ll be getting your fluids. We want you to eat more fruits and vegetables. Those kinds of things will lower inflammation. You don’t have to be taking turmeric pills. You don’t have to be drinking golden milk. Can you use turmeric? Yes, you can. Not tons of it. A little bit as a seasoning. Absolutely fine. I’m not worried about it. It’s always going to be about portion, but don’t overuse turmeric.

My Generic Advice for Unstudied Foods

And again, I’m going to say this. Harvard, there’s a lot of foods. You would look at Harvard’s list and you’re like, “Why the heck did they study that and not this?” They just didn’t. There’s thousands of foods that they did study. They didn’t study every food. Oxalate studies, it’s very expensive to do these things. They choose foods. I can only assume, I don’t know, but that were very common that are kind of common now. They haven’t studied spices and herbs, which are very annoying, but there are a lot of other lists that tend to be consistent in what oxalate levels, whether it’s high or low. You know, we do go by those.

But here’s the thing, the generic advice I give when Harvard did not study a food that you would like to eat, I always say have it once or twice a week, twice because you may have leftovers. I don’t want you throwing food out. It’s expensive. Always get your calcium needs met. And that’s how we do it. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get a kidney stone. I have a lot of people that say “I really want this, but I’m so afraid.” And I always say, “Well, when you do a 24-hour urine collection, make sure to have that food and get your calcium needs met on the day of the urine collection so you can see how if your oxalate levels go up.”

And I’ve never had a patient that their oxalate levels do go up unless they’re really overeating that food they wanted to see, how much it would increase their oxalate.

Oxalate Is the Least Important Part

So folks, I will say this again, and I will say it, probably one of the last things I say on Earth is that oxalate is a portion of the kidney stone diet, but it really is the least important one. The other ones are much more important, and yes, there’s, you wind up taking away so many foods you can have. So go to kidneystonediet.com. We have a wonderful page on oxalate, everything, FAQs, the Harvard oxalate list that you can download. Go to kidneystonediet.com and go read about oxalate and know that it is the least important part. Yes, you can have turmeric here and there. Do not make it a staple every day in your diet, obviously, and do not take turmeric pills. That’ll do it for that.

Yeah, and for someone who would be new, if oxalate is that first step, the entry point in maybe what’s, what are the broad strokes of the things that could be priorities? Say once you, once you like, “OK, I understand oxalate. Now what?”

The Real Priorities: Water First

Water, water and water. I have had patients say to me, “Well, Jill, I’ll do your stupid diet, but I can’t drink water.” And I’ll be like, “You will still make kidney stones.” The most important thing is not oxalate. It is making sure that your pee enough to get those crystals out of your body. That’s the most important thing. That’s what I want you to focus on. If I had my, if I would go to the second thing, it’s gonna go like this. It’s gonna go water, it’s gonna go salt, because if you eat too much salt, that’s gonna lower how much you pee. Then I would go sugar, then I would go calcium, then I would go protein, then I would go oxalate. But when you first begin, you take away spinach and almonds right away, okay?

That you must do. Can’t be eating spinach anymore. It’s just too high in oxalate. But water is absolutely the number one priority when you’re trying to lower your stone risk unequivocally.

Yeah. And that is more challenging than it might seem.

It really is for a lot of people.

Yeah. Also, you have a set amount of actual urine output. So people ask, “How much should I drink?” And it’s like, that’s a hard thing. Maybe, yeah, what should people be considering? Is there like a frequency and a quantity?

How Much Water Should You Actually Drink?

Yes. So we always think about it. Each one of you will have to drink a certain amount of water to pee the minimum out we want, which is two and a half liters. We want you to be two and a half to three liters of urine output. And if you sweat a lot, say you’re going through menopause and you’re having hot flashes, say you’re a triathlete, you’re going to sweat more. Say you eat a high salt diet. You’re going to have to drink more to get that fluid out because and that’s a nightmare because then you bloat up. So that’s a problem. So that’s why a low salt diet is important for kidney stones. Plus it lowers your urine calcium. But that’s another video.

So how do you get that much water? First of all, you’re not going to drink the hundred ounces of water that your urologist just told you to do. It’s going to take a hot minute. Give yourself a month to get up to there. Some of you, you only weigh 90 pounds, you don’t need to drink 100 ounces of water. But typically, one should be drinking 80 ounces to 100 ounces a day, depending upon your lifestyle and how it affects your output. It’s kind of complicated. We’ll do a video on that.

We’ll do a video on it. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So if you are curious about, not even curious, if you’re ready to prevent kidney stones, go to kidneystonediet.com, subscribe to this channel or podcast, and we have everything that you possibly need right on the site and there are some premium services where you can work directly with Jill, but there are so many self-guided services through our All Access where you can get the meal plans, you can get the prevention course, you can get everything, but all of that is at kidneystonediet.com. So I think with that we wrap and we’ll see you next week.

Bye everybody.