Many people suffer from calcium oxalate crystals that build up in their kidneys. These kidney crystals can be quite bothersome and stubborn. Repeat suffers often must turn to restricted diets to avoid foods that can lead to the development of calcium oxalate crystals. One interesting thing that many people have observed is the fact that calcium oxalate crystals seem to be more prevalent in the summer months.
Understanding How the Oxalate Crystals Work
To understand why kidney crystals are more common in summer months, you must first learn how the oxalate crystals work and form. As many of you know, oxalates in certain foods bond to calcium to form the calcium oxalate crystals in the kidney. Usually the calcium oxalate crystals are harmless and pass through your urine without any issues. The problem starts when they start to build up into larger calcium oxalate crystals that have trouble passing through the urinary tract.
Because the calcium oxalate crystals are passed through your urine, hydration is a big part of why it is more prevalent in hotter months. In higher temperatures, you often have to deal with high heat and humidity. As a result, you will sweat more during the summer months and your body will lose more water. That takes away the water you need in your system to clear the crystals out of the kidney.
If there isn’t enough hydration to clear out the smaller kidney crystals, the calcium oxalate can start to collect into larger crystals. And eventually, you could start to experience the potential discomfort of calcium oxalate crystals. Now you know why it seems to always occur more often in the hotter months.
How to Deal with Calcium Oxalate Crystals in Summer Months
It’s clear that the problem is hydration. In the summer months, you have to be extra wary about getting dehydrated. You want to drink more water because you’re losing additional water from all the sweating. Even if you’re not exercising or outside in the heat most of the time, you have to make sure you’re drinking more water due to the humidity.
In addition to the heat, the formation of the can also be exacerbated by your diet. Many people tend to drink sugary sports drinks, juices, alcoholic drinks, and sodas in hotter weather to cool down. All of this excess sugar can help dehydrate your system and lead to more of the calcium oxalate crystals forming.
And of course, you need to factor in salt when it comes to calcium oxalate. Many of the popular sports drinks contain sodium. The purpose of this is to help you stay hydrated and retain your hydration. This is great when you’re partaking in serious exercise. But a problem develops when you casually drink the sports drinks.
When combined with other foods with high sodium content, you can get a situation where you’re feeding your body too much sodium. This can lead to the faster formation of calcium oxalate crystals. The reason why this happens is because the excess sodium increases the calcium in your urine. Calcium binds with the oxalates which is what leads to the calcium oxalate crystals forming in the kidneys.
In conclusion, calcium oxalate crystals are more prevalent in summer months due to dehydration. This dehydration combined with higher sugar consumption and/or a diet high in sodium is often what helps facilitates calcium oxalate crystals to form.