Consumption of tea, alcohol, and fruits and risk of kidney stones

Research has suggested that tea, alcohol, and fruit consumption may reduce the risk of kidney stones. However, little is known whether such associations and their combined effect persist in Chinese adults, for whom the popular tea and alcohol drinks are different from those investigated in the previous studies.
A recent study included 502,621 participants from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB). Information about tea, alcohol, and fruit consumption was self-reported at baseline.
During a median of 11.1 years of follow-up, 12,407 cases of kidney stones were recorded. Tea, alcohol, and fruit consumption were found to be negatively associated with kidney stone risk, but the linear trend was only found in tea and fruit consumption. Compared with non-tea consumers, the HR (95% CI) for participants who drank ≥7 cups of tea per day was 0.73 (0.65-0.83). Compared with non-alcohol consumers, the HR (95% CI) was 0.79 (0.72-0.87) for participants who drank pure alcohol of 30.0-59.9 g per day but had no further decrease with a higher intake of alcohol. Compared with less-than-weekly consumers, the HR (95% CI) for daily fruit consumers was 0.81 (0.75-0.87). Even for those who did not drink alcohol excessively, increasing tea and fruit consumption could also independently reduce the stone risk.
Among Chinese adults, tea, alcohol, and fruit consumption was associated with a lower risk of kidney stones.
Source: Wang H, Fan J, Yu C, Guo Y, Pei P, Yang L, Chen Y, Du H, Meng F, Chen J, Chen Z, Lv J, Li L, On Behalf Of The China Kadoorie Biobank Collaborative Group. Consumption of Tea, Alcohol, and Fruits and Risk of Kidney Stones: A Prospective Cohort Study in 0.5 Million Chinese Adults. Nutrients. 2021 Mar 29;13(4):1119.