Drinking green tea may help prevent painful kidney stones. A new study shows compounds in green tea extract make it more difficult for certain kidney stones to form. Kidney stones affect about five percent of the world's population. They occur when abnormally high concentrations of minerals, such as calcium, accumulate in the urinary tract and clump together to form crystals and potentially painful stones.
 
Researchers found green tea extract bonds to calcium oxalate and makes the resulting crystals a different shape, which makes them less likely to clump together and form large kidney stones.   

This article originally appeared in the December 2009 issue of AAKP Diet Tips & Bits.