Q. I take beet juice powder and it has dropped my blood pressure to normal levels. But I hear that beets can cause kidney stones in some people. If so, am I putting myself at risk by taking the powder daily?
A. Unless you have had a kidney stone, you may not be in any danger. If you are susceptible to oxalate-containing kidney stones, however, then beets, beet greens and beet root powder could pose a problem. They are quite high in oxalates and may promote kidney stone formation in susceptible individuals.
Foods with High Oxalate Levels
- Almonds
- Beans (baked, kidney, refried)
- Beets (and beet greens)
- Blackberries
- Blueberries
- Buckwheat flour
- Carrots
- Celery
- Collard greens
- Currants
- Figs (dried)
- Kiwis
- Leeks
- Lentils
- Miso
- Okra
- Olives (green)
- Parsley
- Peanuts
- Pecans
- Peppers (green)
- Pistachios
- Raspberries
- Rhubarb
- Sesame seeds
- Spinach
- Soy (soy burgers, soy nuts, soy milk, soy sausage, soy yogurt)
- Strawberries
- Sweet potatoes
- Swiss chard
- Tangerines
- Tofu
- Wheat bran
Many of these foods are very healthy and you would not want to give them up unless you were susceptible to oxalate-containing kidney stones. If that is the case, you would need to look for another way to keep your blood pressure under control.
Beets make blood vessels more flexible, thus lowering blood pressure, but certain other foods act in a similar way. We are sending you our Guide to Blood Pressure Treatment with many suggestions for non-drug approaches to lowering blood pressure naturally. Anyone who would like to download it for $2 can go to this link.
One of the best ways to prevent kidney stones is to keep fluid intake high. Experts recommend two to three liters of water daily. Lemonade therapy has also been recommended, but don’t add too much sugar. Here are the key points from an article in the journal Urology (Nov., 2007):
“OBJECTIVES: Potassium citrate is prescribed to patients with calcium oxalate (CaOx) stone formation to increase urinary citrate and pH, thus reducing CaOx crystal formation. Lemonade therapy (LT) might also increase urinary citrate and the total urine volume. We compared the effects of LT alone and potassium citrate plus LT in patients with CaOx stone formation on the urinary citrate and total urine volume to determine the efficacy of LT…
CONCLUSIONS: LT resulted in favorable changes in urinary citrate and total urine volume in our series…”
And if you cannot tolerate beets, remember, there are many other non-drug approaches to helping control blood pressure. You can find them in our guide.
