“The Quest for a Stone-Free World: Chanca Piedra (Phyllanthus niruri) as an Acute and Prophylactic Treatment for Kidney Stones and Their Associated Extreme Negative Valence” by algekalipso, Alfredo Pa

SummaryKidney stones cause an immense amount of suffering worldwide. Weighted by their intensity, and depending on some assumptions, we posit that kidney stones may account for a large fraction of human suffering worldwide.[1] Finding cost-effective solutions for this hedonic catastrophe should be a very high priority in any suffering-focused research agenda. While researching kidney stone pain, we were very impressed with the online reports of patients using chanca piedra (Phyllanthus niruri) to treat their pain and prevent the formation of stones, so we decided to take a closer look. Given the limited number of high-quality studies on the efficacy of chanca piedra, we decided to look for additional evidence online and collected thousands of WebMD, Amazon, and Reddit reviews about chanca piedra and other kidney stone treatments, and classified them along a few dozen different dimensions (such as reported side effects, reported pain reduction, etc.). While we [...] ---Outline:(00:13) Summary(04:50) Context(06:26) Introduction(09:24) Scope(11:31) A Thought Experiment(13:55) A Preliminary Case for Chanca Piedra(19:26) Chanca Piedra as an Acute and Prophylactic Treatment(19:59) Randomized Controlled Trials(22:48) Other Notable Studies(27:40) Treatment Options(28:43) Alternative treatments(30:29) A Note on Epistemology(33:56) Analysis of Online Reviews(34:04) WebMD Reviews(37:48) Amazon Reviews(39:25) Reddit Reviews(41:18) Side Effects(43:28) Cost-Benefit Considerations(45:41) Recommendations(46:05) More Dakka: Chanca Piedra as an Add-On(48:56) Increase the Notoriety of Chanca Piedra(50:51) Final Recommendations(52:35) Author Contributions and AcknowledgementsThe original text contained 40 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: February 18th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/JNNrkeWdTHrS87opd/the-quest-for-a-stone-free-world-chanca-piedra-phyllanthus-1 --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.