What causes gallstones? Understand the cause and take precautions

Why are more and more people suffering from gallstones? It has a lot to do with daily eating habits. Often skipping breakfast and liking to eat a lot of meat and fish can easily cause gallstones. Also, gallstones are easily induced during pregnancy, so you should pay attention to prevention.

1. Causes of Gallstones

(1) Metabolic factors: In normal gallbladder bile, bile salts, lecithin, and cholesterol coexist in a stable colloidal ion group in a certain proportion. The ratio of cholesterol to bile salts is generally between 1:20 and 1:30. If certain metabolic reasons cause a decrease in bile salts and lecithin, or an increase in cholesterol, when the ratio is lower than 1:13, cholesterol will precipitate and form larger stones after polymerization. For example, in the late pregnancy and the elderly, the cholesterol content in the blood increases significantly. Therefore, those who have had multiple pregnancies and the elderly are more susceptible to this disease. For example, those with impaired liver function and reduced bile acid secretion are also prone to stone formation. Patients with congenital hemolytic disease may develop bilirubin stones due to long-term and massive destruction of red blood cells.

(2) Biliary infection: A large number of literature records that Salmonella typhi, Streptococcus, Bacillus subtilis, Actinomycetes, etc. have been cultured from the core of gallstones, which shows that bacterial infection plays an important role in the formation of stones. In addition to causing cholecystitis, bacterial colonies and desquamated epithelial cells can become the core of stones. The protein components of inflammatory exudates in the gallbladder can become the scaffold of stones.

(3) Others: such as bile stasis, low bile pH, vitamin A deficiency, etc., are also one of the causes of stone formation.

2. Prevention of gallstones:

① Since the formation of gallstones is related to the oversaturation of cholesterol concentration in bile, controlling excessive intake of cholesterol in the diet is an important means to maintain a certain stability of bile. In daily life, we should reasonably adjust the dietary structure, eat less fatty foods containing high cholesterol, and eat more high-protein foods, vegetables and fresh fruits. Pregnant women should pay special attention to this. In addition, we should do proper physical exercise to prevent excessive accumulation of fat in the body.

②Regular physical examinations should be conducted every year, including B-ultrasound examinations of the liver and gallbladder, to facilitate early detection and early treatment.