Can supplements nix kidney stones?

From Orlando, Fla., at the American Society for Microbiology meeting

Certain bacteria seem to degrade the compound that forms kidney stones. However, the vast majority of commercially available probiotic supplements, which contain a variety of bacteria strains, don’t appear to have this effect, according to new research.

During their lifetimes, about 5 percent of adults will get at least one kidney stone—a crystallized mass often made of calcium and a substance called oxalate.