# Will TUMS cause kidney stones? Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/preview/ep/will-tums-cause-kidney-stones/ Published: 2024-05-21 --- [Embedded content](https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1MvIijmrZwX16E7jELxJDe) [![Kidney Stone Diet Podcast](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Podcast-1-1024x1024.jpg)](https://kidneystonediet.com/preview/podcast/) [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/will-tums-cause-kidney-stones/id1528474326?i=1000656273635&uo=4)[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1MvIijmrZwX16E7jELxJDe)[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0868148d-adfd-411d-b3f2-71a0ad1461ec) May 21, 2024 --- L Lewis Guest ![Jeff Sarris](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Jeff-Sarris-150x150.jpg) Jeff Sarris Host ![Jill Harris](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Jill-Harris-150x150.jpg) Jill Harris Host The conversation discusses the potential link between Tums (calcium supplements) and kidney stones. It emphasizes that taking excessive amounts of calcium supplements, such as Tums, can increase the risk of kidney stones. The importance of getting calcium from natural food sources is highlighted, and the need for testing, such as a urine collection, to determine individual risk factors is emphasized. **Takeaways** - Excessive intake of calcium supplements, like Tums, can increase the risk of kidney stones. - Getting calcium from natural food sources is the best approach. - Individuals with a history of kidney stones should be cautious about taking calcium supplements. - Testing, such as a urine collection, can help determine individual risk factors for kidney stones. \ 00:00 Introduction and Personal Updates\ 03:03 The Link Between Tums and Kidney Stones\ 06:55 Cautions for Individuals with a History of Kidney Stones\ 11:49 The Importance of Natural Food Sources for Calcium\ 13:18 The Role of Testing in Determining Kidney Stone Risk This podcast is designed to entertain and inform — not provide medical advice. 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For more than 25 years she’s helped patients understand that kidney stones can be prevented with the right treatment plan. It’s one thing to be told to lower oxalate or drink more water, but HOW do you do it? That’s where she comes in. Through the educational resources at [kidneystonediet.com](https://kidneystonediet.com/), stone formers can learn everything they need to know to significantly lower new stone risk. \ —— *Some of the links above may be affiliate links which means that we earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!* - \ ## Chapters - 00:00:00 Personal Updates, Mammograms, and Summer Insects - 00:01:44 Calcium Supplements and Nephrologist Advice - 00:03:03 Tums, Calcium Carbonate, and Kidney Stone Risks - 00:12:51 24-Hour Urine Collection Testing for Stone Formers - 00:14:48 Kidney Stone Diet Resources and Support Options ## Transcript ### Personal Updates, Mammograms, and Summer Insects 00:00:00 Jeff Sarris Will Tums cause kidney stones? Do I need to avoid taking Tums? Let's talk about that. What do you say we just jump in, but how have you been doing? 00:00:09 Jill Harris Hi. Well, I'm looking– I haven't been feeling too well, I'm not going to lie. I've had a respiratory thing. And then today I had to wake up at the crack of butt to go get my mammogram. I call it mammogram. At 7:00 a.m. You know you're old when you're going to doctor's appointments at 7:00 a.m. So I'm a little off today. I'm going to tell people, but I'm going to rally, cause you know, as we all know, the show must go on. But other than that, I mean, life is good. After the Harvard list has settled down, people are getting used to new oxalate numbers, not so many, but, you know, just the fact that there's a new list. And I mean, enjoying the beginning of summer here. How about you? 00:00:52 Jeff Sarris Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've enjoyed the last couple days of sun and warmth, really nice being outside all day. But it was crazy because I'm like, we already have so many mosquitoes. As soon as the sun went down, I was just eaten up, and I'm like, ugh, what is happening? 00:01:07 Jill Harris Yeah, yeah. I haven't– mosquitoes not too bad here in the city. I know you're just a little out of the city, so, you know, it's not as bad here at all. But I am waiting for the cicadas, man. I know everyone's talking about them. I'm waiting for them. We'll see what happens. It's going to be– 00:01:24 Jeff Sarris Have you not seen them yet? 00:01:25 Jill Harris No. I know the birds have seen them. Have you? 00:01:28 Jeff Sarris Yeah, we have a lot of them. There were a couple in the house, even, and they're so big, so it's a little daunting. 00:01:32 Jill Harris Oh, hell no. Right now, if I see those red-eyed, big-winged things coming near me, I'm not going to– I'm not going to fare well. I don't like it. It'll be fine. It's something to talk about, though, you know? ### Calcium Supplements and Nephrologist Advice 00:01:44 Jeff Sarris Yeah, something novel. What do you say we dive into this question this week? It comes from Lewis. 00:01:52 Jill Harris Lewis. 00:01:54 Lewis Hello, Jill. This is Lewis calling from the Midwest. I had a question about calcium supplementation. I have discussed twice with my nephrologist, who's a seasoned nephrologist at a major academic institution in the upper Midwest. And he has told me that it's okay to take a half of a 1,000– 1,000 mg calcium supplement like Tums with food if I don't have access to something like milk or another dairy product. And he said that postmenopausal women are often prescribed a calcium supplement. And he said that it would work as well as with milk. And also I know Dr. Coe on his site also talks about the utility of oral calcium supplements. Nothing in extreme– no extreme dosing, just 500 mg with a couple of meals a day in tablet form I've been told is okay. And I'm wondering why you think that doing that would be wrong. Thank you. ### Tums, Calcium Carbonate, and Kidney Stone Risks 00:03:03 Jill Harris Oh, I– I have to say this question… So, it– it is what his doctor– his doctor said, "If you don't have access. If you don't have access." We know that calcium supplements in pill form can cause kidney stones. There's many research papers on this. So we know that's the case. Here's specifics. Number one, people take Tums like candy. We've talked about this. If you go to buy Tums at the grocery store or the drugstore, the package will boast, "Now 1,000 mg per of calcium per pill!" So people are like, "Ooh, that's great!" Cause nobody knows anything about this stuff. And they keep upping the calcium carbonate in these pills because it's effective when you have acid reflux. You will get immediate relief pretty quick. Pretty quick, if not immediate. So they're highly effective. But along with those packages should also say risk of kidney stones because it's a problem. Also, taking too much supplemental calcium, like in antacids, can cause hypercalcemia, too much calcium, too much calcium in the blood. So there's issues with it. Remember, his doctor said, "If you don't have access." I'm not taking– I have a history of kidney stone formers. I'm not taking Tums. I'm not doing it. If– I'm going to be very careful here– if– I'm a nurse and I do not override your doctor's orders. You want to take that risk, please feel free. Yes, I understand that Dr. Coe says on his website you could, as a last resort, you could take calcium supplements with food, no more than 500 mg at a time. You could. You could. And your risk of stones may not increase, may not, may not, depending on how you absorb things. So if you want to take that chance, you can. You're all grown. Would I do it with a history of kidney stones in my family? No, I would not. But again, I'm going to be very specific here. Jill, what do I do when I'm having extreme– You know, every time I eat fill-in-the-blank, I get GERD. First of all, I'm going to say stop eating fill-in-the-blank, whatever that is for you. Stop eating that! That would be the number one thing. "Oh, Jill, you're so annoying! I want to have it sometimes." Sorry. You know, whenever I tape, I get 27 texts in a row. Look at this. Hold on. I swear to God. So if you wanted to take, say I was having extreme acid reflux of something, if I– if I wanted to get rid of it because I was dying in pain, I would take a little bit of an antacid. I might take a Gaviscon. Yes, there's stuff in there, too, calcium in there. I may take a Tums. I may– a bit of it, a bit of it, just enough to curb my problem. So if you were going to take a Tums, you know, once, twice a month, I'm not– no one's forming a stone with that. We're talking about the over-abuse of things like antacids that have a lot of excess calcium carbonate or calcium in it, period. Calcium supplements, when taken in excess, can increase your stone risks. I've had many patients when they do their urine collection, they were on calcium supplements and their urine calcium was very high. That is a stone risk, high urine calcium. Don't know if you have high urine calcium, please get a 24-hour urine collection. So his specific scenario is the doctor said if you're in a bind, take a cal– take the Tums, take half of one, cause we know research also says up to 500 mg at a time. Don't do more than that cause we don't absorb it that great. We don't want the excess in the urine. So could you do that and not get a kidney stone? You could. But I don't know. I– I'd almost rather not even get– I'd rather take nothing. Most of you haven't had any calcium in 50 years. Now all of a sudden you're worried about it with every little thing you eat. It doesn't work that way. Do your best to get your calcium needs met. It is best by food. Best by food, where it's naturally occurring. After that, you have, for people who don't use dairy, you have the supplemented milks. Is it– are those better than naturally occurring calcium products? No. Is it better than a pill? Yes. Typically, the reason is, cause people will say, "Well, that's a form of calcium in there. That's a supplement, too." But with those milks will come the instructions that no more than 500 mg at a time, take– drink those milks with food, just don't drink it, cause it is a supplement. I have people who– so many people in my practice, that is what they're using for the calcium needs. They're using the non-dairy milks. I'm not seeing high urine calcium markers on their urine. I'm not seeing that. I'm not. So I guess what I'm saying is, for those people that are going to be annoyed, "What am I supposed to do for my reflux?" Don't eat the foods that are bothering you. There's– that's number one. But number two, there's many different reasons. There's illnesses, there's medications, there's many different reasons people have reflux. Talk to your doctor to see what is best for you. If the doctor says something like Tums, in the rare occasion that you have something and you need to take it, you know, again, taking half a Tums with food, typically when you're having huge GERD problems, you don't want to take it with food, but, you know, taking a little bit of a Tums just to get that horrible feeling away, I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about the people that are downing 10 Tums a day. And they will tell me they were eating it like Pez candy. That's why they got a kidney stone, not just because they took a Tums here and there. I'm not worried about that. I don't like the use of Tums as– when– when you do have access to up– to other forms of calcium. I just don't like that– the practice of that. Again, everybody's grown, you'll do what you want to do. You may say it's a lot easier for me to down a Tums, 500 mg, with my lunch than it is to grab some milk or non-dairy milk. Do it– do that. When you get your urine collection done, see how it's affecting you. That's all I can say, because we all absorb things differently, too. So if you're somebody who's going to be like going to think, "You know, I– I don't really care what you say. My doctor said I can do it." Please follow your doctor's orders then. But I would suggest you doing a urine collection then, too. I would– I would– I always tell people, if there's things you're doing that may make you a little nervous that you're increasing your stone risk, please do that while you're doing a urine collection so you can see for yourself. Maybe, his name was Lewis, maybe Lewis can handle 500 mg a– a Tums once a day, no problem. Somebody right after him, not so much. So we've got to be very careful with the use of any kind of pill supplements if you are going to take them, and I'm aware cause I wrote that article with Dr. Coe about supplements and, taking your calcium needs from supplements. If– there's some people who have parathyroid issues, malabsorption issues, bariatric, malabsorption issues specifically from their surgeries, those people have to take a hell of a lot of calcium cause they're not absorbing calcium. They're not absorbing a lot of things. So you can, you must take those things with food and not over 500 mg at a time unless a doctor has told you specifically that's okay for you. Because again, people with malabsorption issues may need to take more than that. That is between you and your doctor. For kidney stone formers in general, it is very important to get your calcium from food and drink. That's where we want you to start. You know, people will say, "Well, I'm going on vacation. Maybe they won't have yogurt or whatever." You know, again, I will also say this. You could take a chance taking Tums during your vacation, or you could just do your very best because, again, most of you haven't gotten calcium for decades of your life. One week is not causing a stone for you. It's just not. So, you know, I don't– I don't know what to say about that advice. I've done this for a very, very long time. The advice has always been supplement is the very, very last form of calcium that you want to do. You'll note I can't tell you how many people have osteoporosis. Doctor puts them on calcium supplements. Two years later, kidney stone. Let's start patients, for whatever they're trying to do in order to get enough calcium, from natural sources first. That's what would be ideal, especially for stone formers, okay? Does that make sense, Jeff? ### 24-Hour Urine Collection Testing for Stone Formers 00:12:51 Jeff Sarris Yeah, absolutely. And I think the testing part is something that I just wanted to– just bring up one more time. I really like that because if you are concerned, if you're worried about it, the– doing a urine analysis, a urine collection, 24-hour urine collection, and then you can either review it on your own with your doctor, or Jill also has a service called Urine Analysis where she will help you go through it. But having that information is so helpful because then you actually know the data of what's happening within– within side. 00:13:20 Jill Harris I can't even say how important that is. Many stone formers are just– they're doing certain things because they have other illnesses, and so they're petrified. They're like, "I don't know." And I'm just like, "Do a urine collection when you're doing that." Just do it, so you can see for yourself. People are like, "I'm so afraid of oxalate." Have your 100 mg that day. Get close– go get– go higher that day! See what it's going to do. You're going to see. It's not– it's going to be fine. And people are like, "Oh my god, I've been worried all this time for nothing." The urine collection, folks, will give you all the answers you need. If you're trying to prevent kidney stones and you have not done that, I highly suggest you get your doctor to do it. There's things in that urine collection that you would never know you have, like high urine calcium, unless you did a urine collection. When people come to me, they'll be like, "Oh, I'm a stone former. My doctor just said…" "Has he ever done a urine collection?" "No, he says I don't need it." They do a urine collection because I beg them to get it done. High urine calcium! So you're damn right that person would have been a stone maker the rest of their life. Not to mention have bone disease. Either they already have it and haven't had a DEXA scan, or when they do get their DEXA scan, they see now they have osteopenia or osteoporosis. So, osteoporosis. It's very important. I'm not just telling you guys– listen, I'm a patient myself. I don't want to have to have any kind of test I don't need. You need this. Get it done. That's it. ### Kidney Stone Diet Resources and Support Options 00:14:48 Jeff Sarris Yeah, I think that's the perfect note to wrap on. So thanks again, Lewis. If you're out there with a question, the number is 773-789-8763. Again, this is, Kidney Stone Diet podcast. So if you want to dive deep into everything Kidney Stone Diet related, just head on over to kidneystonediet.com. You can work with Jill directly, you can, join the course, which is a self-guided course, so many different options, but you can find all of that at kidneystonediet.com. So again, thanks everyone for tuning in, for liking, and subscribing, and we'll see you next week. 00:15:19 Jill Harris Thanks, Lewis. Great question.