4.5 quarts of Iced-tea a Day Caused Kidney Failure!

[Zach]

Health | Wed Apr 1, 2015 5:49pm EDT Related: HEALTH
Massive tea consumption linked to kidney failure

BY GENE EMERY

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/01/us-tea-overdose-kidney-damage-idUSKBN0MS5FT20150401

(Reuters Health) - - The puzzling case of a 56-year-old U.S. man who suddenly developed weakness, fatigue and body aches is leading doctors to warn that massive consumption of tea may be responsible for some unexplained cases of kidney failure.

It's being called iced-tea nephropathy by the New England Journal of Medicine, which published a letter describing the case.

The source of the problem was an excessive amount of oxalate, a compound found in many foods. Excessive amounts can also come from "juicing," having gastric bypass surgery, and by consuming foods with a lot of ascorbic acid such as beets, spinach, nuts and strawberries.

But in this case, the man reported that he was drinking 16 nine-ounce glasses of iced tea each day, giving him more than 1,500 milligrams of oxalate per day.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics advises consuming no more than 40-50 mg of oxalate per day, the authors note.

"If you drink tea once or twice a day, it probably wouldn't exceed what is the normal range for Americans. But this patient was taking 10 times that amount," said Dr. Umbar Ghaffa of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, a coauthor of the letter.

Consuming too much oxalate can lead to kidney stones, which can damage the kidney by blocking the flow of urine. "But in this case there were oxalate crystals inside the kidney, and that generates an inflammatory reaction," Ghaffar told Reuters Health. "If that's not resolved it will cause scarring and loss of the kidney tissue. So that's what probably was happening in this patient."

He ultimately needed dialysis and remained on it because his kidney damage was so extensive.

"Usually if they're at the stage where they need dialysis, it would be unusual for it to reverse," said Dr. Gary Curhan, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who was not involved with the case.

The irony is that previous research has suggested that "people who take tea in the usual amounts actually have a lower risk of kidney stones,” Curhan said.

“But in this case, the person was drinking huge amounts of oxalate," he said. "I would caution people against drinking that much, but drinking a glass or two would not concern me."

Ghaffar and her colleagues speculated that such regular excessive consumption of oxalate "may be an underrecognized cause of renal failure."

"The summer season is coming and a lot of people use a lot of iced tea in this season," she said. "We just want to make patients aware that too much of anything is bad."

SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, online April 1, 2015.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1414481

[Athena]

Thanks a lot Zach for this article. I've just learned something new. I don't drink iced tea but I do eat quite a lot of spinach most days. I think I should cut down now after reading this article.

[iolaire]

Just think of the shock trying to get your liquid intake under control for Dialysis after drinking that much for that long.

[Jean]

 I can't imagine any one even wanting to drink that much liquid even with healthy kidneys.

[noahvale]

^

[Jean]

In my own sheltered little life, I never thought of the folks who work outside in this heat that we have in Ca. Good point Noah.

[Charlie B53]

Before my kidneys failed, I worked outside here in the Missouri summers.  I always had my 64 oz cup of pink lemonade, at least three a day.  More if I had to work over-time.  That was a LOT of fluid.  And a lot of calories.

[Alex C.]

Reading between the lines on this article, I'm noticing that this person had gastric bypass, which means that he was likely morbidly obese well before. I am assuming that his kidney failure might be partly, if not mostly caused by ailments which are commonly associated with extreme obesity. Also, I might add that it sound like this person has a problem with foods, regardless. One thing which they didn't mention, but I wish they would've, was whether the iced tea he was drinking is unsweetened, sweetened, or artificially sweetened. Some of those artificial sweeteners are not good for your kidneys.

[angroid]

I think this story is a case of researchers grasping at straws and in a word BS

Must not hang around old people in the south much.

Ah but it is the NEJM so it must come from God directly.

angroid