Recurrent Hypercalciuric Nephrolithiasis — Does Diet Help?

Kidney stones have a lifetime incidence of up to 13 percent in North America.1 In the United States, this disorder was responsible for an estimated 1.32 million visits to physicians in 1995 and for $1.83 billion in health care costs in 1993.2 In at least 70 percent of cases, the stones consist of calcium oxalate crystals, often with calcium phosphate or sodium urate.3,4 Kidney stones generally form only in urine that is markedly supersaturated with respect to a solid phase.5 Heterogeneous nucleation, in which the initial ion complex is attached to a foreign surface, occurs more often and at . . .