By Christopher Wanjek
LiveScience

Ah, summer. The sun, the sand … and kidney stones.

August is peak season for developing kidney stones. Doctors have seen a sharp increase in patients with stones in general — a rise by as much as 30 percent in the past decade — likely tied to diets high in refined sugars, salt and animal protein. (More on this below.)

But the primary reason for the summertime kidney blues is dehydration. As the mercury rises, we sweat more. Without proper hydration, the body's fluids become more concentrated with dietary minerals, such as calcium. This increases the risk that the minerals will concentrate into stones.

More than 10 percent of Americans will develop at least one kidney stone during their lifetime. Many get their first stones as early as their mid-20s.

Some people who have had stones might tell you it can be more painful than childbirth, as these often-jagged crystals slowly make their way through your delicate and narrow urinary track. Forming a stone just once increases your risk of forming another by at least 50 percent.

So, this is something worth preventing. And the easiest way, particularly in the summer, is to drink plenty of fluids. [ 5 Wacky Things That Are Good For Your Health ]

The ins and outs
William Haley, a nephrologist at Mayo Clinic's Kidney Stone Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., recommends drinking two liters, or about eight cups, of non-caffeinated liquid per day. Water is best. But output is more important than input, Haley said. You should shoot for producing a whopping 2.5 liters of urine daily.

"If you don't void [urinate] every couple of hours, you're not drinking enough," Haley told LiveScience. Fear not if you'd rather not measure your output in a cup. A very full bladder holds about half a liter of urine. Haley said the general rule of thumb is to drink until there's little yellow in your urine.

What to drink is a stickier issue. John Milner, a urologist at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, has said that iced tea can promote the formation of the most common type of kidney stone, the calcium oxalate stone. Tea, particularly black tea used for iced tea, is high in oxalates.

The "most common type" he refers to is the calcium oxalate stone. Tea, particularly black tea used for iced tea, is high in oxalates. While there is no proof of a connection, anecdotal evidence suggests that drinking glass upon glass of iced tea on hot days is what helps make the American South the so-called kidney stone belt.

No scientific studies support this connection, however. At best, this is advice for chronic stone formers; anecdotal evidence does suggest that drinking glass upon glass of iced tea on hot days is what helps make the American South the so-called kidney stone belt.

Milner also recommends lemonade because the citric acid in lemons inhibits urinary crystal formation. But lemonade comes with baggage — lots and lots of sugar. Hence, back to Haley's advice that water is best. You can add a lemon wedge. Many foods contain water, too.

Our kidney stone diet
The reasons for the nationwide increase in kidney stones are complicated and, for the most part, not well understood. But a diet high in refined sugars, salt and animal protein — that is, the typical American diet — does seem to be a factor.

The meat-heavy Atkins and South Beach diets, for example, have brought in many new patients with stones to the Mayo Clinic, Haley said.

Animal protein, when digested, acidifies the urine and promotes crystal formation. Excess sodium passing through the kidneys causes more calcium to enter into the urine, raising the risk for stone formation. High-fructose corn syrup, particularly when accompanied by low levels of magnesium, also increases urinary calcium excretion. (Good sources of magnesium include dark leafy greens, whole grains, nuts and seeds.)

But dietary contributions can be counterintuitive: Grapefruit, high in citric acid like lemons, promotes stone growth; non-fat dairy products, high in calcium, reduce stone risk. Dietary calcium in general reduces the risk while supplemental calcium increases the risk. [ 10 New Ways to Eat Well ]

And then there are those oxalate-containing foods, such as tea. The list of oxalate-containing foods include the healthiest foods on the planet: blackberries, blueberries and kiwifruit; Swiss chard, spinach and most dark, leafy greens; almonds, cashews and other nuts; tofu and other soy products; and good ol' wheat germ, a health-food store staple.

Considering that Americans likely aren't developing more kidney stones from eating these foods, advice to cut back on oxalates for the general population might be shortsighted.

Summertime and the passing's uneasy
It could be that those people forming calcium oxalate stones have a propensity to do so, Haley said. There also could be a threshold, in which a diet high in animal protein, sodium and refined sugars, coupled with oxalates and dehydration, increases the risk for stone formation, Haley added.

Both Milner and Haley recommend seeing a doctor if you think you have passed a stone. It might have been too small to feel (this time!), but it could have caused blood in the urine. Analysis of your urine could determine what minerals are being excreted and what foods you need to avoid.

Complicating the situation even further is global warming. It is getting hotter; and Haley, among others kidney specialists, doesn't rule out this factor, given the strong relationship between summer heat and kidney stones.

Which brings us back to Haley's top recommendation, regardless of your kidney stone history: "Hydration, hydration," he said.

Christopher Wanjek is the author of a new novel, " Hey, Einstein! ", a comical nature-versus-nurture tale about raising clones of Albert Einstein in less-than-ideal settings. His column, Bad Medicine, appears regularly on LiveScience.

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Eric Thayer /Reuters

A man wipes his forehead while sitting in Central Park in New York July 5, 2012. Six days after violent storms hit the eastern United States, parts of the east coast and midwest sweltered in the fourth day of a heat wave.

By Rachael Rettner
MyHealthNewsDaily

Hot days certainly take a toll on our bodies, but they can also test our tempers, experts say.

Many people feel a little hotheaded when the mercury rises, said Nancy Molitor, an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry and behavioral science at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

In fact, hot and especially humid weather is known to be associated with increases in aggression and violence, as well as a lower general mood, Molitor said.

That's because trouble sleeping, dehydration and restrictions on our daily actives — such as being cooped up inside all day to avoid the sweltering heat — may all contribute to a worsening mood in warm weather, Molitor said. And a lack of control over the situation may further irritate some people, she said.

If the summer heat has you feeling snappish, Molitor advised avoiding making any important life decisions, because you might make a choice you later regret.

And whether you're at the office or on the road, recognize that people you deal with may also be a bit testy.

"Everyone's fuse is going to be a little bit shorter," Molitor said.

Summer SAD

While it's common to feel a little depressed or grouchy in the summer heat, a small percentage (about 1 or 2 percent) of people experience a summer version of seasonal affect disorder (SAD).

On top of feeling uncomfortable and depressed, people with this condition feel enormously anxious in the summertime, and can even become suicidal, Molitor said. For them, the heat and sunshine are "almost impossible to endure," she said.

Molitor said she suspects that prolonged periods of heat and humidity, as many regions have experienced this summer, may lead to an increase in cases of summer SAD seen by doctors.

Coping with the heat

Molitor urged that people practice common sense in the heat: stay hydrated, and listen to your body. If you're healthy and want to exercise, try to get in your workout in the morning or evening, rather than the middle of the day.

If you take mediations that are diuretics, such as blood pressure medications, you will need to drink even more that usual to stay hydrated, Molitor said.

In addition, focus on aspects of your life you can control, Molitor said, and realize that eventually, it will cool down.

"The average person can withstand this, if they listen to their body," Molitor said.

More from MyHealthNewsDaily:
7 Common Summer Health Concerns

11 Tips to Lower Stress

Are You SAD? How to Tell if it's Seasonal Affective Disorder

MyHealthNewsDaily

Before you throw that burger on the grill this July 4 holiday, you might want to check the grill surface for some not-so-edible objects.

In recent years, there have been several documented cases of people who ended up in the emergency room after ingesting wires that detached from grill-cleaning brushes, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report describes six such cases that occurred between March 2011 and June 2012. The patients, all treated at the same Rhode Island hospital, ranged in age from 31 to 64, and their injuries included a puncture of the soft tissues of the neck, which caused severe pain on swallowing, and perforation of the gastrointestinal tract, which required emergency abdominal surgery. All six patients fully recovered after treatment

"With the summer grilling season under way, broad awareness of the risk will help" in quickly and correctly diagnosing this injury, the CDC said. Diagnosis can be difficult because the bristles from grill-cleaning brushes are small, and can be quite difficult to see on imaging scans.

"Additionally, public awareness might result in careful examination of any grill surface before use, or use of alternative grill-cleaning methods or products," the CDC said.

Details about the types and brands of grill-cleaning brushes that injured the patients in the report were not available, so the CDC said it cannot make recommendations regarding which brands might be safer to use. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is currently reviewing information on the topic to see if product defects can be identified in grill-cleaning brushes that could pose an unreasonable risk for injury, the CDC said.

The new report, published Tuesday in the CDC's weekly report on death and illness, was written by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital. It is the second such report to come from that hospital system — the first described six cases that occurred between July 2009 and November 2010.

Together, the reports suggest that "such incidents might be more common than previously suspected," the CDC said.

More from MyHealthNewsDaily:
 

• 7 Foods You Can Overdose On
• Research Indicates Hundreds of Injuries a Day Surrounding July 4 Holiday Festivities
• 7 Common Summer Health Concerns

Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

LOS ANGELES - FEBRUARY 20: "Queen of Disco" Donna Summer performs onstage on February 20, 1979 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Lung cancer’s sticky stigma as, primarily, a self-inflicted disease prompted Donna Summer’s publicist to release a terse statement Friday to emphasize the singer was “a non-smoker.”

"Various reports currently surfacing about the cause of Ms. Summer's death are not accurate. Although she lost her battle to lung cancer at the age of 63, it was not related to smoking,” said the late singer’s spokesman Brian Edwards.

“Updated May 20: While her publicist and family called her a nonsmoker, a msnbc.com reader sent a YouTube video showing the singer holding a cigarette. It’s unclear whether she had been a regular smoker, although even light tobacco use can increase risks.

Tobacco accounts for 87 percent of all lung-cancer deaths. But the same ailment is not exactly rare among nonsmokers: As many as 24,000 Americans who never puffed a cigarette die each year from the illness, the American Cancer Society reports. 

Some frightening context: If lung cancer in “never smokers” had its own category separate from lung cancer in smokers, “it would rank among the top 10 fatal cancers in the United States,” reports the American Cancer Society.

Los Angeles oncologist Dr. Robert Figlin said lung cancer in non-smokers remains “underappreciated in our society, in large part because smoking-related lung cancer has dominated the conversation.”

Worse, early-screening methods -- generally CT scans -- now used to find and treat cancer in the lungs of chronic smokers are not yet ready to use on nonsmokers, Figlin said.

“Those same screening tests … haven’t even been tested as yet in the population of (non-smoking) patients,” said Figlin, associate director of the academic development program and director of the division of hematology/oncology at Cedars-Sinai’s Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute in Los Angeles, Calif. 

Even if someone doesn't actively smoke, cancer researchers have identified four primary environmental culprits, including “secondhand smoke,” or breathing in the plumes that smokers exhale. 

After the 2006 death of Dana Reeve -- widow of actor Christopher Reeve -- many observers speculated her illness might have been triggered by her years of singing in smoke-filled nightclubs. The American Cancer Society estimates that 3,400 nonsmoking adults die annually from exposure to secondhand smoke.

Workplace exposure to cancer-causing agents (including chemicals and gases) -- as well as pedestrians, bikers and joggers sucking in small particles of air pollution -- are also believed to prompt some lung cancers in non-smokers.

But it is radon gas – an odorless, radioactive, element rising from uranium deposits and collecting inside homes – that leads to most of the lung cancers that strike down nonsmokers. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, radon kills 20,000 Americans annually.  

Gender seems to play a small role, as well. Men who have never torched a cigarette, cigar or pipe have higher death rates than female non-smokers, cancer experts have learned. But there’s an epidemiological flipside to that stat: At ages 60 and above, there are twice as many female nonsmokers as males who never picked up the habit, yet more nonsmoking women are affected by lung cancer, says the American Cancer Society. 

"There's no question, we are seeing more and more men, but mostly women who have never smoked, yet are developing lung cancer," Figlin said.

Still, the stigma remains. "Whether it's a person who smoked or who never smoked, in our society lung cancer has always been associated with the stigma of: 'Well, you did it to yourself,' says Figin.

In his view, the smoking stigma hinders development of more effective treatments for the deadly disease. "If there was some magic wand that we could wave to remove the stigma associated with lung cancer it would help us get people onboard to ask and answer questions ... that could lead to cures," Figin says. 

More on Donna Summer:

Illness, death of 'very private' Donna Summer 'shocked' friends
Donna Summer dead at 63
Video: Donna Summer sings 'Hot Stuff' in 2008 on TODAY

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