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Herbal medicines are being used with greater frequency by practitioners of natural medicine in the United States. Many categories of herbs are used, primarily angiotensin antagonists, nonspecific nephroprotective, and immunomodulating/adaptogenic herbs. The most common herbs in each category are discussed both from a historical and scientific perspective. For the first time, a case series of the use of the proposed herbal angiotensin antagonist herb indigenous to the United States, Lespedeza capitata, is reported based on the author's clinical practice.

A young boy with prior constipation developed recurrent severe calcium phosphate kidney calculi, sometimes sufficient to cause acute kidney failure and hydronephrosis. After several major surgeries, food allergies were determined by serum immunoglobulin E testing, and when he finally went on a gluten-free diet, he stopped forming calculi and has had no surgeries related to kidney calculi since. Hyperoxaluria was not identified in this child by 24-hour urine analysis, unlike most other reports of kidney calculus formation in individuals with gluten intolerance.