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Weight Management

Page Last Updated: August 30, 2005

		Terry Brown, MPH, RD/LD Section Editor, Weight Management Clinical Instructor, Department of Clinical Nutrition UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

Maintaining proper weight can prevent gallstones
Posted: April 2005
Source: UT Southwestern Health News Tips
Media Contact: Scott Maier

Anyone who's ever experienced a gallstone knows about the excruciating pain associated with the condition, whether the stone is as tiny as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball. The gallbladder may produce a single stone or many smaller ones, even several thousand.

More than 20 million Americans have gallstones, and approximately one million new cases are diagnosed each year, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Unfortunately, no consensus exists on whether diet affects gallstone formation. It is clear, though, that obesity increases disease risk in all populations, says Dr. Jay Horton, associate professor of internal medicine in the division of digestive and liver diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

"An increase in total energy intake is associated with gallstone formation," says Dr. Horton. "And, of the specific components of a diet, consumption of refined sugars appears to increase the risk for gallstone disease."

In addition, research indicates a higher chance of gallstones in people consuming significant amounts of saturated fat, says Dr. Horton. Saturated fat is found in fatty cuts of meat, poultry with the skin, whole-milk dairy products, and tropical oils like coconut, palm kernel and palm.