Knocking back handfuls of almonds and chia seeds each day as an IBS treatment left one woman with an acute kidney injury, according to a rare case report from the US.

While the nuts and seeds provided welcome relief for IBS, their high oxalate levels also caused oxalate nephrology, a rare form of kidney injury, say doctors from the George Washington University school of medicine and health sciences, in Washington DC.

The 59-year-old woman, who already had chronic kidney disease (stage 3bA1) of unknown aetiology, was found to have acute-on-chronic kidney injury during a routine consultation with her nephrologist.

Her lab results were significant for an increase in creatinine compared to six months earlier (up from 1.3 to 1.8mg/dL), the doctors reported in BMJ Case Reports.