INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
MUMBAI: When 42-year-old Sandeep Chavan's legs started swelling and he suffered bouts of vomiting and poor appetite, tests revealed his
kidney wasn't functioning well
It, however, took weeks of investigations and painstaking medical history-taking to pin down the culprit: multiple cups daily of tea
fortified with vitamin C.Chavan isn't the only one
Civic-run KEM Hospital has, in the last seven months, had another patient apart from Chavan whose kidneys were affected by the black
tea-vitamin C combination."Consuming black tea became a fad during Covid-19, but it's literally not everybody's cup of tea," said KEM
Hospital dean Dr Sangeeta Ravat
There is a certain subset of people with underlying conditions who can be adversely affected, she added.Consider Chavan, an office boy in an
advertising firm in Santacruz, who started having green or lemon tea from the office vending machine because they contained vitamin C that
could reportedly ward off the Covid-causing coronavirus
But the fact he had untreated hypertension and had several bouts of kidney stones in the past made him vulnerable."When he came to us, his
creatinine (a marker of kidney function) level was 10 when it should have been less than 1,'' said KEM Hospital's nephrology head Dr Tukaram
Jamale, who has been treating Chavan since he was admitted for 20 days in December 2022.A kidney biopsy revealed high levels of oxalates,
but there was no explanation for the buildup
"We went over his dietary habits several times before he mentioned what he thought was an innocuous habit of taking black tea," said Dr
Dr N K Hase, former head of the nephrology department in KEM Hospital, said excessive intake of anything can cause a problem
The second patient, a 64-year-old retired government employee, was referred to KEM from Tata Memorial Hospital in February
"He was diagnosed with colon cancer that had metastasized to the liver and other organs, but the cancer treatment couldn't be started
because of his kidney failure," said Dr Jamal
With Chavan's history fresh in their minds, the doctors conducted a kidney biopsy that showed high levels of oxalate
"On questioning, the patient confessed that he had several cups of black tea every day," he said
Unfortunately, his kidney didn't recover enough for cancer treatment to begin, and he died two weeks back.
