KARACHI, Feb 27: Health experts at a symposium on Sunday recommended that tea and coffee should be reduced and dark-coloured soft drinks, aerated drinks and alcohol should be avoided to prevent formation of urinary stones.

They were speaking at the concluding session of three-day urolithiasis symposium, organized by the Sindh Institute of Urology Transplant in association with the European Urolithiasis Society.

During the panel discussion on "Are urinary stones preventable?" health professional said that excess oxalates in diet, less fluid intake particularly in hot climate, and warm working environment were common risk factors for stone formation in the urinary tract.

Panellists of the session were Dr S.R. Khan from the USA, Dr A. Rodgers from S. Africa, Dr P.N. Rao from the United Kingdom, Dr A. Hesse from Germany, Dr K. Sarica from Turkey, Dr F. Marickar from India, Dr D. Gohel from Hong Kong, Dr N. Laube from Germany, Dr P. Shrivastav from India and Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi. Dr A. Naqvi was the moderator.

The joint consensus was that recurrence of stones in a person having had stone disease could be decreased. "General recommendations are that fluid intake should be sufficient to make the urine of a light colour. Plain water, barley water and rice water are beneficial. Yoghurt is also beneficial as it helps to disintegrate bacteria," they said.

Earlier, describing the history of urinary tract stone disease, Dr F.A. Khan from Lahore stated that Andersen in 1932 had described southern Punjab as the hot spot for kidney stones.

Reporting the results of a survey on bladder stone among children in Punjab, he said that the age at onset was as low as one year, while it was also observed that in Northern Punjab upper tract stones were higher in incidence, whereas in Southern Punjab bladder stones were more common. "Bladder stones in children are closely linked with poverty and diarrhoeal disease," he added.

Dr M.D.I. Gohel from Hong Kong discussed whether kidney stones be eradicated by herbal medicines. He delivered an interesting talk on Chinese kampou medicine, being used to inhibit calcium oxalate crystallization.

He said that experimental studies had proved that herbal medicines contained substances, which could prevent calcium oxalate aggregation and growth. This could prevent renal stone formation and help to expel the crystal easily, he added.

Dr Fazil Marickar from India said that plant extracts, especially scoparia dulcis, had proved very successful in clearing renal injuries produced by oxalate crystals. "Substances as tamarind, plantain stem and horse gram help in passage, reduction of size and movement of stones," he added.

Talking on ethnobotanic approaches towards treatment of stone disease, Dr I. Chaudhry said that it was conversion of a natural product into a useful substance. He predicted that in future food fossils would be consumed in larger quantities and research on them would help in using them as therapy for many diseases.

Discussing the metabolic aspects of stone disease, Dr Shrivastav from India said that low urinary volume, low citrate and high uric acid levels in urine had been observed in significantly large number of patients with renal stones. "These factors could be taken as predictors for stone formation in the future," he added. -PPI