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 didn'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 wouldn'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 .