By Eric Metcalf

Taking steps to bring your high blood pressure under control can help protect you from heart disease, stroke, and many other health problems, including … kidney stones.
That's right. Making dietary changes aimed at blood pressure may also cut your risk for the painful aggravation of kidney stones. 

In 2009, researchers published a study that included more than 240,000 nurses and health professionals. The researchers investigated how closely the participants' diet matched the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating style. This diet involves eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, a moderate amount of low-fat dairy foods, and relatively little animal protein. The researchers gave them a score based on factors such as ample fruit and vegetables and less sodium, sweetened beverages, and meat.

The men whose diet earned them a high DASH score had a 45-percent lower risk of kidney stones, and women had a 40- to 42-percent lower risk.
Most kidney stones are made of calcium along with either oxalate or phosphate. According to the researchers, eating fruits and vegetables increases a substance called urinary citrate, which counteracts the formation of calcium stones. And a diet with ample calcium, but not much animal protein and sodium, reduces the chances of recurring calcium oxalate stones.

In a new study, this one published in September, the researchers returned to this topic. They again scored the diets of more than 3,400 participants with and without kidney stones according to DASH principles, but focused on components in the participants' urine. Patients with the highest DASH scores had 11 to 16 percent more urinary oxylate than patients with the lowest scores, along with more urine volume. The researchers credited these differences in the lower risk of stones. 

Following the DASH diet can really reduce your blood pressure. In a study from earlier in the year, researchers found that overweight or obese people who simply followed the DASH diet saw their blood pressure numbers fall by 11.2/7.5 millimeters Hg. If they followed a weight management plan and followed the DASH diet, their blood pressure fell an average of 16.1/9.9 mm Hg. (Normal blood pressure, by the way, is less than 120/80, and high blood pressure starts at 140/90). 

It can be hard to change your lifestyle to address a problem like blood pressure - which is typically symptomless. But kidney stones can be extremely painful … so if you're looking for another good reason to change your diet, consider adding this one to your list.