Too much Iced Tea causes Kidney Failure - NEJM Article

Case Study: A man with kidney failure caused by oxalate toxicity from drinking a 16 glasses of black 

iced tea a day... (Iced Tea has about 500 to 1000 mg of oxalate per litre; overloaded kidneys)



This is a short (but sweet!) case study involving both pathology and chemistry; patient comes in with weakness and body aches, initial blood work up shows high serum creatinine and a high number of calcium oxalate crystals in the urine.

Followup testing showed 24 hour urine oxalate excretion to be elevated; also a kidney biopsy showed oxalate crystals. Patient history revealed none of the usual causes for this (hx of gastric bypass, ethylene glycol poisoning, 'juicing', or vitamin C overdose), but above detailed habit of iced tea.

Interesting!