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Vitamin C can increase the risk of kidney stones in men research warns

Tuesday, 05 February 2013
Men who consume vitamin C supplements have a significantly increased risk of kidney stones. The more they consume the vitamin, the higher the risk, a new research from Karolinska Institute Sweden warns.

Extra vitamins marketed as something good and useful is thus determined to be harmful but concrete evidence for their medicinal efficacy in lacking. Vitamin C is said to be an antioxidant that helps protect the body's tissues against cell damage caused by free radicals. That it helps maintain a healthy immune system, the body's natural defence mechanism, and helps maintain healthy skin.

Now a Swedish study found that too much vitamin C can even be harmful, because it increases the risk of kidney stones. The researchers at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden have discovered the connection between more than 23,000 men in Västmanland and Örebro counties who had not previously suffered from kidney stones, and either did not use supplements or just took the supplements in the form of vitamin C in supplement form, usually 1 gram per tablet and kidney stones development.

In an eleven years of follow up 436 of the men developed kidney stones. It emerged that the risk was twice as high among those who consumed vitamin C, compared with those who did not. Moreover, it appeared that the more often the men took the vitamin, the higher the risk.

The analysis was repeated for those who used multivitamin, but the researchers saw no similar correlation. Probably because the dose of vitamin C is lower in these tablets.

The findings however, don't prove the vitamin itself triggers stones to form. But researchers said that because there are no clear benefits tied to taking high-dose vitamin C, people who have had stones in the past might want to think before taking extra supplements.

The study was published in journal Jama Internal Medicine.