Doctors solved the mystery behind an Arkansas man 's kidney failure after discovering he loved downing a gallon of iced tea every day . Medical professionals at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock ruled out several causes for a 56-year-old man 's kidney problems before blaming the 16 cups of iced tea he drank daily . Black tea has high levels of oxalate , a chemical known to produce kidney stones and even lead to kidney failure if consumed in excessive doses . Scroll down for video . Toxic tea : Medical professionals at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock blamed a 56-year-old man 's kidney problems on the 16 cups of iced tea he drank daily . 'It was the only reasonable explanation , ' said Dr Umbar Ghaffar of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences , who wrote about the patient in an article for the New England Journal of Medicine . The man was admitted to the hospital in May complaining of nausea , weakness , fatigue and body aches . The chemical oxalate was found to have clogged the man 's kidneys , to the point that they had become inflamed . With a habit of drinking about 16 8-ounce cups of iced tea every day , the unidentified man was consuming anywhere from 3 to 10 times the amount an average American takes in . The 16-daily-cups habit was striking on its own , since federal studies have found that the average US adult drinks about 10 to 11 cups of liquid every day , including water , coffee and other beverages . Ghaffar said she did n't know whether the man was drinking sweet tea , a concoction made from black tea and a hefty serving of sugar that is popular in the South , though he was diabetic . The New England Journal of Medicine has cited black tea in health issues before , publishing a 2013 case that found a 47-year-old woman had developed a bone disease from drinking a pitcher of tea made from 100 to 150 bags of tea every day . The Arkansas man 's case , however , does not suggest health risks for most people , according to Dr Randy Luciano , a Yale School of Medicine kidney specialist . ' I would n't tell people to stop drinking tea , ' said Luciano , who has treated patients with oxalate-related kidney damage . That man drank ' a lot of tea . '
Doctors at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences found a 56-year-old man 's kidney problems stemmed from drinking too much iced tea . Black tea contains oxalate , a chemical known to produce kidney stones and sometimes lead to kidney failure . The unidentified man will likely spend the rest of his life in dialysis .