Nephrolithiasis: nutrition as cause or therapeutic tool

Irene Brenna,Laura Soldati,Benedetta Raspini,Elena Dogliotti,Annalisa Terranegra

doi:10.1186/1479-5876-11-178

Irene Brenna, Laura Soldati + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5876-11-178

Copy DOI

Abstract

Nephrolithiasis is a very common disease with an increasing prevalence among industrialized populations. Kidney stone formation is a complex phenomenon, involving genetic and metabolic patterns, and nutrition can play an important role in this match both as a promoter or as a protective factor. To promote a deeper knowledge of such a challenging disease, clinicians and researchers have met in Rome, Italy, last March 2013, at the International Congress “Nephrolithiasis: a systemic disorder” to discuss patho-physiology and possible treatment of kidney stones. During the meeting, a whole session was dedicated to nutrition, seen both as a cause or a therapeutic tool for nephrolithiasis. Due to its etiopathogenesis, nephrolithiasis is also an ideal model for a nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics approach. Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetic respectively study the effects of a dietary treatment on gene expression and, on the other hand, the impact of an inherited trait on the response to a specific dietary treatment.

Highlights

Nephrolithiasis is a very common disease in countries with a high socio-economic level as other chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes
Several studies suggested that the typical industrialized countries diet, which is rich in salt and animal proteins, sugar-sweetened drinks and fructose, leads to high urinary excretion of calcium, uric acid, oxalate and phosphorus
An example of nutrigenomics is given by the interaction between two candidate genes for nephrolithiasis, calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) and the tight junction protein claudin 14 with calcium diet intake

Summary

Introduction

Nephrolithiasis is a very common disease in countries with a high socio-economic level as other chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In these countries, the prevalence of nephrolithiasis is about 10% [1] and in Italy it is one of the three main causes of hospitalization for nephro-urological reasons, together with renal failure and prostatic hyperplasia [2]. The etiopathogenesis of nephrolithiasis has not yet been fully clarified, some predisposing factors significantly increase the probability of stones formation such as sex, age, ethnicity, genetics, climate, low water intake, low or high urinary pH, unbalanced diet, overweight or obesity [3]. Starting from epidemiology, in the last thirty years, several large cohort studies have examined the association between diet and stone disease [4,5]

Discussion

Trinchieri A

Findings

15. Moe OW