Research
Hormonal
Obesity is a significant risk factor for kidney stones (nephrolithiasis) and kidney cancer, driven by metabolic changes such as acidic urine and insulin resistance.
Being overweight increases your risk of kidney stones and kidney cancer. This is partly because obesity changes your urine chemistry, making it more acidic and prone to forming stones. Maintaining a healthy weight helps normalize urine chemistry and reduces these risks.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Obesity is associated with a number of risk factors contributing to higher morbidity and prevalence of nephrolithiasis. Higher body mass is associated with lower urine pH and increased excretion of oxalates, uric acid, sodium, and phosphates.
Why this rating
Supported by population studies and meta-analyses.
Source
OBESITY AND KIDNEY DISEASE: HIDDEN CONSEQUENCES OF THE EPIDEMIC
Csaba P. Kövesdy et al. · Nephrology (Saint-Petersburg) · 2017
DOI 10.24884/1561-6274-2017-21-2-10-19
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Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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