May 2, 2023: Your kidneys may be celebrating the “COVID-19 diet.”
Some patients prone to kidney stones lowered the amount sodium and calcium consumed in 2020 when they switched to home cooking during the pandemic shutdowns, and the reductions have persisted even as restaurants have reopened.
Researchers from the Department of Urology at Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook, NY, reported the results recently at the 2023 meeting of the American Urological Association.
“Subjectively, we noticed that our friends, family, and patients reported that they began cooking more at home and eating less at restaurants—one patient called it the ‘COVID-19 diet,'” said David Schulsinger, MD, associate professor. of urology at Stony Brook and lead author of the study.
Restaurants closed in New York state as of March 2020.
Schulsinger said that reducing sodium intake may reduce the risk of hypernatriuria or hypercalciuria (too much sodium or calcium in the urine, respectively), thereby reducing the risk of kidney stones, because home cooking allows patients more control over how they season Their aliments.
In the study, 93 kidney stone patients (54 men and 39 women; mean age 60.1) underwent 24-hour urine studies at three times: before March 16, 2020; during the following 10-month period; and a “post-COVID-19” stage between January 1, 2021 and October 31, 2022.
Urine sodium levels decreased by approximately 10% during the pandemic and settled at approximately 17% lower during the post-COVID-19 period. Urinary calcium also fell by about 10% during the pandemic, and levels remained improved, about 13% lower, in the post-COVID period, according to the researchers.
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