🧂 High-Sodium Beverages — Kidney Stone Risk Guide

Drinks are a double-edged sword in a kidney stone diet. The volume they add is protective — diluting urine is the single most effective dietary lever for stone prevention — but what is dissolved in that volume matters. Water, lemon water, and citrus-based drinks support both dilution and citrate. Soda adds phosphoric acid in some colas, fruit juice adds sugar and oxalate, and iced tea sits in the moderate oxalate range. The practical hierarchy: water first, coffee and citrus second, sweetened and oxalate-dense drinks last.

Sodium is the hidden dial in stone prevention: excess sodium makes the kidneys excrete more calcium, and urinary calcium is a primary stone ingredient. The general target is under 2,300 mg of sodium per day, and processed and packaged foods are where sodium hides — not the saltshaker. For stone patients who also track oxalate, the two columns interact: a food can be low in oxalate but risky through sodium, which is why the full picture matters rather than a single nutrient.

Among the 2 beverages foods shown here, the list is ranked by oxalate per serving so the safest options are immediately visible — scan the top of the grid for daily staples and treat the lower entries as portion foods.