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Welcome to the Why Urology podcast with Dr. Todd Brandt.

This podcast is my personal attempt to teach you about your genito-urinary tract, what can go wrong, and how your urologist may just become your superhero.

The name of the podcast comes from my ongoing need to answer the question that I get so often from patients, friends, and family, “Why Urology? Why did you choose to become a urologist?”

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  2. Kidney Stones: Lemons take a stand- Hypocitraturia and Lemonade ep 71

Kidney Stones: Lemons take a stand- Hypocitraturia and Lemonade ep 71

Aug 10, 2019

Today this episode is again focusing on kidney stone prevention. Today’s focus is on a mineral called citrate. 

Citrate is a naturally occurring substance. It is a salt or ester of citric acid. Citric acid is found in relatively high amounts in citrus foods and juices, lemon and lime juice have some of the highest amounts of citric acid. Citric acid is not to be confused with Vitamin C which is ascorbic acid.

Urinary citrate is an inhibitor of kidney stone formation due in part to binding of calcium in urine. Citrate in the urine inhibits crystal formation, growth and aggregation. If you don’t have enough citrate in your urine, something we call hypocitraturia, you may be at risk for forming kidney stones.

Here is the point of this episode. If you want to increase your urinary citrate and decrease your kidney stone risk you can drink, you guessed it, lemonade.