Medic renal failure due to too much iced tea

Four liters of iced tea a day caused kidney failure

04/03/2015

A 56-year-old man from the US has apparently destroyed the function of his kidneys through years of excessive iced tea consumption. In the trade magazine „New England Journal of Medicine“ Scientists at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, USA, describe the patient's case of severe nephropathy a day as a result of consuming an average of 16 glasses (250 milliliters each) of iced tea per day.

In general, adequate hydration is essential to the human organism, but the current case shows again that not all drinks are suitable. Four liters of iced tea a day have obviously ruined the 56-year-old's Arkansas kidneys. The physicians around Umbar Ghaffar of the University of Arkansas Medical Institute conclude that the contained oxalates in iced tea have led to the kidney failure of the patient.

Kidney failure of the 56-year-old requires dialysis
According to the doctors, the man was in May 2014 with general „Weakness, tiredness, body aches and increased serum creatinine“ taken to the hospital. The patient showed no proteinuria (protein in the urine) or hematuria (blood in the urine), but in the urine a remarkable number of calcium oxalate crystals were present, report the doctor Umbar Ghaffar and colleagues. In the family of the patient were otherwise no kidney disease occurred and the man had previously no kidney stones, so the US physicians. "In the further course of the patient's condition has worsened significantly and the onset of uremic symptoms (complaints due to the high concentration of uric acid in the blood) required according to Umbar Ghaffar the beginning of dialysis," said the doctors.

16 glasses of iced tea a day
The rapidly advancing nature of kidney failure at normal kidney size on ultrasound prompted physicians to undergo kidney biopsy to detect extremely high numbers of oxalate crystals and interstitial kidney inflammation. The findings, in combination with the detected eosinophils (special leukocytes) and interstitial edema, were based on a so-called „Oxalate nephropathy“ pointed. As cause „almost certainly excessive consumption of ice tea“ to evaluate, write Ghaffar and colleagues. Because black tea contains plenty of oxalate. „With 16 cups of tea daily, the patient's daily intake of oxalate was more than 1500 milligrams“, the scientists report. Thus, the patient has taken about three to ten times more oxalate than the average American.

Rhubarb or peanuts can also damage your kidneys
The US medical team concludes that oxalate nephropathy may be a widely underrated cause of kidney failure. „In cases of unexplained renal failure, in which proteinuria is absent and abundant oxalate crystals are present in the urine sediment, a thorough control of the nutritional history should be made, as the renal dysfunction may be due to an oxalate-rich diet“, so Ghaffar and colleagues. For in addition to iced tea, for example, the star fruit, rhubarb or peanuts can lead to corresponding disorders of kidney function.

No need for black tea
Commenting on the current case, kidney specialist Randy Luciano of Yale University Medical School told the news agency „dpa“, that this is very unusual. He has been investigating oxalate-related kidney damage several times but would not advise people to stop drinking tea. The 56-year-old patient from Arkansas simply overdid it with about four liters of iced tea a day. (Fp)