Eating a diet designed to combat high blood pressure may also help prevent kidney stones

Eating a diet designed to combat high blood pressure may also help prevent kidney stones, researchers report.

They examined the effects of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, which is high in fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, dairy products, and whole grains, and low in sweetened beverages and red and processed meats.

For the study, the researchers analyzed urine samples over a 24-hour period of 3,426 people with and without a history of kidney stones. Despite similar fluid intake, people who followed a DASH-style diet excreted more urine than those who didn't follow the diet. The higher urinary output may be partly due to the higher food water content in a DASH-style diet.

The study also found that the urine of those on a DASH-style diet contained higher concentrations of citrate, an important inhibitor of calcium kidney stones.

Two components of the DASH diet -- low-fat dairy products and/or plants --appeared to have potent kidney stone-fighting properties, the study found.

The findings suggest that a DASH-style diet could help prevent kidney stones in people who have a history of developing them, the researchers said.

The study, whose authors reported no financial disclosures, appears in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

"We believe our results provide a strong rationale for a randomized trial examining the effect of a DASH-style diet on kidney stone recurrence," Dr. Eric Taylor, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Maine Medical Center, said in a news release from the journal.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about kidney stones.