A disease which targets latinx? seems more likely its field workers, inadequate hydration and bad fluid hygene overall.

Could be culturally diet influenced as well.

My urologist after I had my first oxalate kidney stone said "you can drink a litre of water a day, or you can pay for my yacht upgrade. It's your choice" -but the main thing was to limit oxalate rich foods or take adequate citric acid alongside/soon after. Obv there are many kinds of kidney disease aside from stones, but the commonality here about 'use it or lose it' with heat, fluids, work strikes me.

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tptacek 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Hard to imagine a diet of cultural significance that would put people into lifelong dialysis, at an epidemic scale.

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riffraff 42 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Well there's cases of diets which came to prominence and caused issues,.from the obesity epidemic of modern west to the pellagra-riddled European countries consuming maize.

It is conceivable that social/natural changes might bring to dietary changes whose damage at scale is only visible on hindsight.

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nine_k 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

A diet that makes a particular infection easier to take root is very imaginable.

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bawolff an hour ago | parent [-]

sure, but not if we are just suddenly seeing it now. Most cultural based diets have a long history.

	▲	masklinn 6 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		They do, but it does not take much for economic pressure to make one seemingly small change with wide ramifications e.g. a plant or two which are not economically viable, get substituted, and turn out to be critical, then leading to chronic deficiencies (iirc the British navy got scurvy back after they switched from lemons to cheaper limes, or maybe between two kinds of limes and one had significantly lower levels of vit c). It could also be interactions between the cultural diets and new products historically unavailable to that culture, which are either improperly processed (maize caused a lot of pellagra in europe) or has problematic interactions with components of the cultural diet (I don’t have an example for that, but grapefruit is famous for its medical interactions so nutritional interactions don’t seem impossible). I don’t think it should be the first thread of investigation but it certainly should not be dismissed out of hand if nothing else bears fruit.

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phyzome an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

For your explanation to be correct, you'd have to explain why this doesn't affect field workers of other genetic background all around the world.

	▲	throwup238 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		It does. This article is about Latino workers but there are well known hotspots for CKDu in Sri Lanka and India. There’s other reports of it in the rest of Asia, Middle East, and Africa but its not as well known of an issue and under reported.

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card_zero 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What's the popular food that contains lots of oxalates? I don't see anyone binging on sorrel or star fruit or parsley.

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christophilus 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It’s in loads of things. Peanuts, spinach, beans, chocolate, avocados, corn, soy… the list is endless. If someone is really sensitive, they can have problems with high oxalate foods. Some people seem to accumulate oxalates, meaning their problems compound, where others have no problem at all. Biology is weird.

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nine_k 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Spinach. Many nuts, e.g. almonds. Many beans (including cocoa but excluding coffee). Well, potatoes!

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thelastgallon 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Spinach. Maybe other leafy vegetables.

	▲	4lx87 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Spinach is very high per serving, but all sorts of foods can have high oxalates per serving. Sweet potato, Swiss chard, almonds, beets, chocolate. You'd have to consult the content per serving for all foods you consume if you're trying to avoid them.

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jrootabega 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Spinach and almonds.

	▲	card_zero an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I'm frequenting clinics 'Cos I eats my spinach, I've kidney the failure, man