Why Do Men Have More Kidney Stones Than Women?
Men are generally bigger and heavier than women and have a larger lean body mass (muscles). Men will also tend to eat larger portions of red meat and animal proteins. This means that during a normal day’s activity, men will create a greater amount of waste products that will need to be excreted by the kidneys through the urine. With more chemicals being discarded in the urine, it becomes more likely to exceed the dissolving capacity of the urine and begin the process of crystal and stone formation. It has been suggested that the male sex hormone, testosterone, may increase urinary oxalate and uric acid which will increase the incidence of stones. Finally, women tend to have slightly higher levels of citrate in their urine than men which helps block the formation of kidney stones. Why Do Kidney Stones Hurt So Much? A kidney stone pain attack, also called “colic”, is described as the most painful experience it’s possible to live through. It’s more painful than gunshot wounds, major surge
