Does Vitamin C Cause Kidney Stones?

[ofonorow]

From the email...

I know we answered this in detail before, but I can't find the post.

I had a question,
I've heard that taking large doses of Vitamin C cause kidney stones,
is this true?
what were they talking about?
thank you very much.
Rey

In a word, NO.

This myth is perpetuated in medical texts without any study that has ever demonstrated such an effect. This is a theoretical concern based on vitamin Cs ability to increase the body's production of oxalates.

Dr. Robert Cathcart http://www.othomed.com is the physician who has the most clinical experience with high dose replacement ascorbate and he reports no cases of kidney stones in over 20,000 patients.

Linus the Great in the book HOW TO LIVE LONGER AND FEEL BETTER (Pauling, 1986) points out the the pH of the urine can determine which type of stones form. They don't form in neutral urine. The most common stones form in alkaline urine, and ascorbic acid should be taken to help turn the urine more acidic and prevent these stones.

If your urine is acidic, you might want to take the sodium ascorbate form of vitamin C to raise the pH and prevent kidney stones.

A recent large study found no relationship between vitamin C and kidney stone formation, but did find that low levels of vitamin B6 is correlated with the formation of kidney stones.

Finally, animals make between 3000 and 13,000 mg of ascobic acid daily adjusted for body weight. If medicine is right, then most animals are in a lot of pain a great deal of the time as they expell all these stones

[Ralph Lotz]

This myth has a hard time dying.
Although ascorbate raises oxalate in some people, it does not cause kidney stones - it actually prevents them.

The antidote for oxalate stones is about 300-400 mg of magnesium and 25 - 50 mg of B6.
I prefer Ultra-mag by Source Naturals and Albion's chelates.

[Bobber]

Linus the Great in the book HOW TO LIVE LONGER AND FEEL BETTER (Pauling, 1986) points out the the pH of the urine can determine which type of stones form. They don't form in neutral urine. The most common stones form in alkaline urine, and ascorbic acid should be taken to help turn the urine more acidic and prevent these stones.

Something is not correct here. If this were true, than one would suspect that vegitarians would have lot's of kidney stones since fruits and vegetables are the most alkaline loading of all foods. See Dr. Cordain's table on Acid/Base balance.

There must be some other factor involved other than urine PH (which is the primary indicator of ph load on kidneys).

[ofonorow]

[ofonorow]

Bobber, your right. I was wrong. The idea is generally correct, but depending on the type of stones one forms, one should then attempt to change the pH of the urine to prevent this type of stone. Pauling never stated that a neutral pH prevents stones, as I inferred. Thank you.

[Ken_RN]

Links to the two previous threads on this subject are below:

Cardiologist Says Vitamin C Will Damage Kidney
http://vitamincfoundation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=194

Kidneys and Vitamin C
http://vitamincfoundation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=295

[ofonorow]

This is such an important issue that I think I'll create a new forum devoted to the issue of stones to make it easier for people to find.