Research

Hormonal

Higher central adiposity (measured by waist-to-hip ratio) causally increases the risk of kidney stone disease, mediated in part by elevated serum calcium concentrations.

Maintaining a healthy waist circumference is more critical for preventing kidney stones than general weight loss alone. Central fat raises serum calcium, which increases stone risk. Focus on reducing visceral fat through lifestyle changes to lower this specific biochemical risk.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
MR analyses established that higher central adiposity is causally linked to both KSD and higher adjusted serum calcium concentrations independent of BMI... Mediation analyses indicated that 12% of the effect of WHR on KSD is due its role in elevating serum calcium concentration.
Catherine Lovegrove et al. · Journal of the American Society of Nephrology · 2023

Why this rating

Uses large-scale observational data (UK Biobank) and robust Mendelian Randomization to establish causality, though it is a preprint.

Source

Central Adiposity Increases Risk of Kidney Stone Disease through Effects on Serum Calcium Concentrations

Catherine Lovegrove et al. · Journal of the American Society of Nephrology · 2023

DOI 10.1681/asn.0000000000000238

preprint · n=479405Cited 47×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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