Should You Consume Beer To Pass Kidney Stones? | Myths Vs Facts

Urology

Should You Consume Beer To Pass Kidney Stones? | Myths Vs Facts

Dr. Aman Gupta Jan 12, 2021

SHOULD YOU CONSUME BEER TO PASS KIDNEY STONES? | MYTHS vs FACTS
A teetotaller took a bottle full yesterday for stone pain and ended in Emergency room with inability to pass Urine, and the very reason behind writing this blog post!
TRUTH and MYTHS:

Beer is a diuretic, produces lots of urine, so may help in passage of small stones less than 5 mm (stones have to pass through an exit passage of size 3mm!).

Since it produces lots of urine suddenly, don't even try if you not able to pass urine or in pain, it will make it more miserable for you. If kidney is already blocked with stone and lots of urine is produced in the kidney, which it is not able to expel out, it becomes very painful and you may end up vomiting, unable to pass urine and of course groggy if you never had alcohol before!

Prolonged beer intake will make you dehydrated, oxalate loaded (beer has high oxalate content, one of the main components of kidney stone) and overweight (beer is high on calories):

ALL THE ABOVE ARE RISK FACTORS FOR KIDNEY STONES.

Medicines are available which do the same job of flushing out small stones and are of course much cheaper and safer than beer!

Beer is an alcohol after all, and does harm your liver! Too much price to pay for flushing out a stone!
If a stone stuck in the ureter has to pass, it will, in a span of a month. If it doesn't, in spite of whatever you tried, get it removed. Many people end up with a damaged kidney because of this totally preventable and treatable reason!

Nowadays, procedures for stone removal are highly advanced and safe and not to be afraid of!
So next time you grab that beer pint to flush out the stones, reconsider the options!
Author: Dr Aman Gupta- Senior Consultant- Urology & Kidney Transplant