DOES FISH-OIL BENEFIT STONE FORMERS

The possibility that dietary fish oil supplementation may benefit pati ents with hypercalciuric urolithiasis by decreasing calcium excretion and enhancing protective mechanisms has been studied in rats and human s. In experiments on rats in metabolic cages, fish oil inhibited exper imental nephrocalcinosis induced by intraperitoneal calcium gluconate. There were no significant changes in urinary biochemistry. In a clini cal study on 18 hypercalciuric recurrent stone patients fish oil signi ficantly decreased urinary calcium excretion. This effect was accompan ied by decreases in the excretion of magnesium and citrate. Oxalate ex cretion and urinary fibrinolytic activity were unchanged. Overall, fis h oil had a limited impact on the risk profile for recurrent urolithia sis.