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- Newsgroups: rec.food.veg
- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!bogus.sura.net!darwin.sura.net!tulane!wpg!russ
- From: russ@wpg.com (Russell Lawrence)
- Subject: Re: Milk and calcium (here we go again)
- Message-ID: <C1CGKE.Mq1@wpg.com>
- Organization: WP Group
- References: <1993Jan23.174154.349@pixel.kodak.com>
- Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 05:57:48 GMT
- Lines: 91
-
- From article <1993Jan23.174154.349@pixel.kodak.com>, by young@clpd.kodak.com (Rich Young):
- > Protein does not, in and of itself, "leach calcium from the bones."
- > High protein intake tends to increase calcium excretion in the urine.
- > This excreted calcium is taken from the blood. The body requires
- > a fairly delicate balance of calcium which is transported by the
- > blood. If the blood level of the mineral is too low, the body will
- > draw upon its reserve stores, the bones, and seek to raise the blood
- > levels. When all is well, both removal and deposition of calcium
- > are ongoing processes. It is only when removal outpaces deposition
- > that there is a potential problem; and if blood calcium is high in
- > the first place, perhaps due to increased consumption, then one
- > might reasonably expect a similar rise in urinary calcium, regardless
- > of diet...
-
- [see the abstract below]
-
- > It is not clear that excessive consumption of vegetable protein
- > would not cause increased urinary excretion, but this is difficult
- > to test, since excessive consumption of protein from vegetable
- > sources is much less likely due to the decreased nutrient density
- > of most plant sources.
-
- [see the abstract below]
-
- > There is, however, at least one study which
- > implicates cereal grains in bone loss, and another which mentions
- > soy protein.
-
- Post them.
-
- > My own opinion is that excessive protein consumption,
- > regardless of source, will increase urinary excretion of calcium.
-
- [see below]
-
- > ...
- > It is not at all clear that anything except the fat content of
- > dairy products is 'harmful" to adults and children older than
- > one year. Skim milk is an excellent source of calcium, and the
- > bugaboo regarding protein is a red herring, since it is total
- > protein consumption which is the key factor in urinary calcium
- > excretion...
-
- What's the basis of your opinion? The evidence below supports
- a different conclusion.
-
- ====================================================================
- Breslau NA Brinkley L Hill KD Pak CY
- Relationship of animal protein-rich diet to kidney stone formation
- and calcium metabolism.
- J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1988 Jan;66(1):140-6
-
- We wished to determine whether different types of dietary protein
- might have different effects on calcium metabolism and on the
- propensity for renal stone formation. Fifteen young normal subjects
- were studied during three 12-day dietary periods during which their
- diet contained vegetable protein, vegetable and egg protein, or
- animal protein. While these three diets were constant with respect to
- Na, K, Ca, P, Mg, and quantity of protein, they had progressively
- higher sulfur contents. As the fixed acid content of the diets
- increased, urinary calcium excretion increased from 103 +/- 15 ( +/-
- SEM) mg/day (2.6 +/- 0.4 mmol/day) on the vegetarian diet to 150 +/-
- 13 mg/day (3.7 +/- 0.3 mmol/day) on the animal protein diet (P less
- than 0.02). Despite the increased urinary calcium excretion, there
- was a modest reduction of urinary cAMP excretion and serum PTH and
- 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels consistent with acid-induced bone
- dissolution. There was no change in fractional intestinal 47Ca
- absorption. The inability to compensate for the animal protein-
- induced calciuric response may be a risk factor for the development
- of osteoporosis. The animal protein-rich diet was associated with the
- highest excretion of undissociated uric acid due to the reduction in
- urinary pH. Moreover, citrate excretion was reduced because of the
- acid load. However, oxalate excretion was lower than during the
- vegetarian diet [26 +/- 1 mg/day (290 +/- 10 mumol/day) vs. 39 +/- 2
- mg/day (430 +/- 20 mumol/day); P less than 0.02]. Urinary
- crystallization studies revealed that the animal protein diet, when
- its electrolyte composition and quantity of protein were kept the
- same as for the vegetarian diet, conferred an increased risk for uric
- acid stones, but, because of opposing factors, not for calcium
- oxalate or calcium phosphate stones.
-
- Institutional address:
- Center in Mineral Metabolism and Clinical Research
- Department of Internal Medicine
- Dallas
- Texas.
- ====================================================================
-
- --
- Russell Lawrence, WP Group, New Orleans (504) 443-5000
- russ@wpg.com uunet!wpg!russ
-