ICED TEA: Linked to Kidney Stones

August 9, 2012 - 2:11 pm | Category: Health

Looking for a cool drink to cool you off during these sweltering dog days of summer? Well, don’t reach for iced tea too often. Researchers at Loyola University in Chicago say too much tea can boost the odds of kidney stones.

Tea, especially of the black variety, has large quantities of the chemical oxalate, which combined with calcium, can form stones that can get stuck in the urinary tract. The disorder affects approximately 10 percent of Americans at some point in their lives.

Dr. John Milner, an assistant professor of urology at Loyola, said that people don’t necessarily give up iced tea entirely, but they should drink it in moderation along with water or fresh lemonade, which has citrates that help inhibit the growth of kidney stones.