Kidney health is essential for people with blood sugar concerns. Taking care of your kidneys starts with understanding what is going on with them. You can’t take care of something when you don’t know what is happening. About one in 11 people gets kidney stones at some point. Risk factors include family history, blood sugar concerns and dehydration. But it could also be related to bacteria.
It has long been believed that kidney stones were formed through chemical and physical processes. However, new research has found bacteria play a previously unknown role in their formation. Researchers found bacteria inside the most common kind of kidney stone.
“This breakthrough challenges the long‑held assumption that these stones develop solely through chemical and physical processes, and instead shows that bacteria can reside inside stones and may actively contribute to their formation,” said the study’s co-author, Dr. Kymora Scotland of UCLA. “By uncovering this novel mechanism, the study opens the door to new therapeutic strategies that target the microbial environment of kidney stones.”
There are different kinds of kidney stones. Before this research, it was known that a rare kind of stone contained bacteria. This research found that the most common kind of stone that accounts for 80 percent of cases, also contains bacteria.
Kidney stones are considered non-infectious as they are thought to form from mineral buildup and a lack of fluid in the body. This study shows that might not be true, as bacterial causes could be treated.
Some people get kidney stones more than once. They may have a bacterial infection in the kidney, ureter or bladder. Treating that infection could stop recurrent stones.
“We found a new mechanism of stone formation that may help to explain why these stones are so common,” said Dr. Scotland. “These results may also help to explain the connections between recurrent urinary tract infections and recurrent kidney stone formation, and provide insights on potential future treatment for these conditions.”
As this finding applies to the most common form of kidney stones, this may change how treatment needs to be handled. Knowing the root cause of the problem could lead to new treatments that relieve and prevent stones. When we don’t know what is happening to the body, we have to treat the body the same way we always have, and, with a problem as painful as kidney stones, that isn’t always satisfactory.
