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Painful Stones Linked to Supplement Use

Scientists have been debating the relationship between vitamin C supplements and kidney stones for decades. In the 1970s the New England Journal of Medicine published heated correspondence about this controversy.
Now Swedish investigators have weighed in with a study of vitamin C supplementation in middle aged and elderly men. Nearly 1000 took large doses of vitamin C regularly. They were matched with about 22,000 men who did not take vitamin C pills. They were followed for more than a decade.
Those who took vitamin C were twice as likely to develop kidney stones than those who did not swallow supplements, but the absolute risk was small. Over the 12 years of the study, roughly 3.4% of vitamin C takers suffered stones whereas 1.8% of the matched controls experienced kidney stones.
In Sweden, the usual dose of vitamin C is around 1,000 mg. This amount could lead to oxalic acid crystals forming in the kidneys. The authors conclude that men should be warned that high-doses of vitamin C may double their risk of kidney stones.
[JAMA Internal Medicine, online, Feb. 4, 2013]

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About the Author
Joe Graedon is a pharmacologist who has dedicated his career to making drug information understandable to consumers. His best-selling book, The People’s Pharmacy, was published in 1976 and led to a syndicated newspaper column, syndicated public radio show and web site. In 2006, Long Island University awarded him an honorary doctorate as “one of the country's leading drug experts for the consumer.”.
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