# Does Olive Oil & Lemon juice 'lube' your kidneys? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373 "2010-04-26T04:01:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/41 "2012-09-29T02:02:02Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I personally will guarantee that Dr. Exapno’s Miracle Elixir will cure 100% of ailments doctors say you don’t have! Send your money now. Now! Sooner than now! Does it come with a Model-T-style horn to honk? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/42 "2012-09-29T02:51:17Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Does it come with a Model-T-style horn to honk? No, with two hard-boiled eggs. Make that three hard-boiled eggs. With plenty of olive oil and lemon juice on the side! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/43 "2012-09-29T03:32:06Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > No, with two hard-boiled eggs. > > Make that three hard-boiled eggs. > > With plenty of olive oil and lemon juice on the side! At this rate, we’ll have to send up a bigger stateroom. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/44 "2012-09-29T03:58:27Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Random capitalization makes Everything more Legitimate. Or near-German ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/45 "2012-09-29T12:57:34Z")
> [@The\_Visitor](#): > > QUOTE OP > > Think about what you have just said. > > So you are saying drinking Olive Oil doesnt make its way through the body? > Also the citric acid in Lemon Juice doesnt reach the Kidneys? > Sadly our Doctors are trained and are sponsored by Drugs Companies and are not interested in Olive Oil and Lemon Juice. > > I have personally used Lemon Juice and it has dissolved the Kidney stones the Doctors failed to spot were causing me numerous Health problems. > > Think about it only a small amount of Citric Acid is Required by the Liver the rest is flushed out. > Where does it get flushed out I wonder? The Eyes? The Nose?.. no the Kidneys…yey! > > And when I drink too much Olive Oil my Skin gets Oily? I wonder how this happens? Maybe people think it just absorbs like a sponge? > > As you Quoted - "Sadly this merely reminded me of my ignorance of human anatomy. I have no idea how it really works. " > > IGNORANCE. Total and utter bollocks from beginning to end. ---
**Author:** ![sdoone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@sdoone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdoone)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/46 "2013-05-01T15:07:04Z")
As someone who has suffered with kidney stones for over 25 years, having passed five and needing lithotripsy for one, I want to weigh in on the olive oil and lemon juice debate. Last weekend I was in sufficient pain to visit the local emergency room, where a CAT scan revealed a 6 mm stone with a 50/50 chance of passing or needing surgery. Before going to the hospital, I downed a shot glass of olive oil and a shot glass of lemon juice in the hopes that it would do some good, as I feel it has done in the past. On Sunday morning, I painlessly passed the stone . . . so painlessly, in fact, that if it weren’t for the fact that the urine stream was momentarily interrupted the way it is when a stone is passing, I wouldn’t have even known it. There was some blood in the urine, but no pain. I visited the urologist for follow-up the following day. He was incredulous that I could have passed the stone, and scheduled another follow-up the next Monday (this week). An x-ray an hour before the visit revealed no stone, which convinced him that it had indeed passed. Whatever the effect of the olive oil and lemon juice “cure,” my urologist feels it’s purely coincidental but harmless. I, on the other hand, feel that it helped the stone to pass as easily as it did, and I will continue using this treatment the moment I feel a twinge going forward. My x-ray also revealed five stones-in-waiting (three on one side, two on the other), so a once-weekly treatment of olive oil and lemon juice will at least give me the peace of mind I need to get through what I know is coming. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/47 "2013-05-01T15:22:50Z")
Why didn’t you pass the “stones in waiting” too? Not ripe enough? Or does the treatment only work on painful stones? ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/48 "2013-05-01T15:51:40Z")
Ooooo. Zombie thread, glowing testimonial, first time poster. I’m gonna buy olive oil and lemon juice futures! ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/49 "2013-05-01T15:52:37Z")
quad zombie or no if the oil helped the stone pass you would notice an oil slick when you pee. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/50 "2013-05-01T16:22:23Z")
Ignorance is fighting back. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/51 "2013-05-01T16:38:47Z")
Counter anecdote: I was doubled over in pain from a kidney stone and the next day passed it painlessly. No lemon and oil was needed. Science doesn’t work based on anecdote or else we’d be sharing stories about which phase of the moon is most helpful for passing kidney stones. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/52 "2013-05-01T16:41:21Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Ignorance is fighting back. Where is the “Like” button. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/53 "2013-05-01T17:03:40Z")
Give him some credit. He admitted his urologist thinks it’s coincidence and didn’t blame BIG MEDICINE for suppressing the cure. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/54 "2013-05-01T17:25:25Z")
_pokes ignorance in both eyes, Moe style_ ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/55 "2013-05-01T17:40:56Z")
So, **sdoone** ’s kidneys were magically “lubed” by olive oil and lemon juice passing virtually unchanged into them (how this concoction managed to grease the upper and lower urinary tracts to allow one but not all stones to slide out is a mystery, but we’ll take it on faith). The next exciting event to anticipate is **sdoone** passing funky globs of stuff out the rectum in what will be taken as gallstones washing out. But why would you even bother with icky-tasting olive oil and lemon juice, when a couple spritzes of WD40 judiciously applied to skin of your back overlying the kidneys will be absorbed and rapidly cause kidney stones to rattle down the chute and out the ying-yang (to use proper medical terms) like balls in a pinball machine? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/56 "2013-05-01T18:11:55Z")
> [@sdoone](#): > > … a CAT scan revealed a 6 mm stone with \*\*a 50/50 chance \*\*of passing or needing surgery… I visited the urologist for follow-up the following day. He was incredulous that I could have passed the stone, and scheduled another follow-up the next Monday (this week). Why would he be incredulous at the stone passing with even odds? ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/57 "2013-05-01T18:27:39Z")
My cousin Jethro said there was a 50/50 chance of a coin flip coming up heads. So, I ate some lobster tails before I flipped it. By gum, it came up tails. I won 25 cents, but Jethro got so dang incredulous he beat me up. So, when I wake up in the hospital, the doctor says there’s a 50/50 chance my leg won’t heal right, on account of Jethro hitting it so hard with that pipe. Ol’ sawbones doesn’t know my sister Raylene is cooking up a pot of chicken legs for me right now. He’s going to be so incredulous. I’m going to tell him to eat some calf brains and a statistics textbook. That’ll help. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/58 "2013-05-01T22:03:21Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Why would he be incredulous at the stone passing with even odds? But it was equally likely not to. Something had to tip the scales. ---
**Author:** ![greabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8797f3/32.png) [@greabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greabe)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/59 "2013-08-15T22:58:38Z")
Lots of research that supports the use of lemon juice to treat kidney stones. Sorry to bring up an old thread. Just thought some research might be useful in the face of peoples fear of quack medicine. > **[In vitro effect of lemon and orange juices on calcium oxalate crystallization...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17721827/)** > > These results show that effective prevention of urinary stone formation should aim at restoring the urine's ability to inhibit calcium oxalate crystallization and more emphasis should be given to dietary measures. > **[What Are Kidney Stones?](https://www.webmd.com/kidney-stones/understanding-kidney-stones-basics)** > > Hard, pebble-sized objects that grow in your kidneys are known as kidney stones. Understanding how they form and how they’re treated can help you deal with them -- and maybe even prevent them. > **[In vitro and in vivo study of effect of lemon juice on urinary lithogenesis -...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16482864/)** > > In synthetic urine, the inhibition rate of calcium oxalate crystallization increases gradually with the lemon juice concentration. In natural urine, we noted that the kinetics of crystallization of calcium oxalate, before and after ingestion of lemon... > **[Can lemon juice be an alternative to potassium citrate in the treatment of...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18946667/)** > > To investigate that lemon juice could be an alternative to potassium citrate in the treatment of urinary calcium stones in patients with hypocitraturia, 30 patients with hypocitraturic urinary calcium stones were enrolled into study. The patients... ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373/60 "2013-08-16T00:45:37Z")
When quacks and crackpots distort legitimate science, the legitimate science remains legitimate and the quacks and the crackpots remain risible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-olive-oil-lemon-juice-lube-your-kidneys/537373.md?page=4)