>will chanca piedra also breakup gallbladder stones? and also is gold coin grass a good product for gallstones? _____________________________________________________________________
> NEW DIETARY APPROACH MAY HELP PREVENT KIDNEY STONES
>
> Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
>
> January 17, 2002
>
> Dear Reader,
>
> "I'd rather give birth to an elephant."
>
> That kind of imagery sticks in your mind. I know it stuck in
> mine.
>
> That was the description my colleague Pat used to convey the
> pain of a kidney stone. I included it in the e-Alert I sent you
> on November 20 about this excruciating condition. Back then, I
> was writing to tell you about a new study that showed the
> essential fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) could help
> prevent kidney stones. But ever since, I've been on the look-out
> for more information. I just couldn't get Pat's description out
> of my mind - and I wanted to be able to help her, and the tens
> of thousands of other people like her.
>
> Now, a new study reports the kidney-stone-prevention diet that
> doctors have been recommending for years doesn't work. That's
> the bad news. But the good news is, the same study reveals what
> DOES work to reduce the urinary markers of kidney stones and
> reduce your risk of recurrence.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Does a low calcium diet REALLY help prevent kidney stones?
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> First, a bit of background: there are several different kinds of
> kidney stones, but 70 to 80 percent are composed of calcium and
> oxalate (also called oxalic acid). Oxalate is type of salt found
> in certain foods, like walnuts, spinach, rhubarb, parsley, and
> chocolate. Consequently, doctors have long advised kidney stone
> sufferers to lower their calcium intake to help prevent
> recurrences. But long-term research failed to show a benefit
> from this approach - and kidney stone recurrence rates remained
> right around 50 percent.
>
> Some limited research had suggested that animal protein and salt
> intake might have more to do with kidney stones than calcium. So
> in this study, the researchers set out to compare the two
> dietary approaches. They recruited a group of 120 men with a
> history of calcium oxalate kidney stones; the participants had
> to have urinary calcium excretion greater than 300 mg per day
> and at least two documented kidney stone events. Then they
> divided the men into two equal groups. One group followed a
> traditional low-calcium diet, with only about 10 mmol of calcium
> intake each day (about 400 mg).
>
> The other group followed a low-protein, low-salt diet, with
> normal-to-high intake of calcium. Low protein was defined as 15
> percent of total calories, or about 90 grams of protein for a
> 2500 calorie diet. Sodium was restricted to 50 mmol per day or
> less (about 2000 mg). Both groups were told to avoid foods rich
> in oxalate, and to increase water intake to two liters a day in
> cold weather and three liters a day in warm weather. Each man's
> urine was evaluated at baseline, one week after randomization,
> and then once a year for five years (or until he had a
> recurrence.)
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Dietary approach cut kidney stone recurrence rate in HALF
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Over time, the low-protein, low-salt approach produced dramatic
> results. In the low-calcium diet group, 23 of the 60
> participants had a recurrence. But in the low-protein group,
> only 12 of the 60 had another stone incident. That's HALF the
> recurrences, just from a dietary change.
>
> Ironically, the low-protein group showed as much reduction in
> urinary calcium excretion as the low-calcium group - even though
> they consumed normal to high levels of calcium. But the
> low-protein group also decreased its excretion of oxalate, the
> other component of most kidney stones. In fact, in the
> low-calcium group, the oxalate excretion actually INCREASED.
>
> As I mentioned, I've written about kidney stones before. And
> I've told you about two available options to prevent them: EPA,
> which is readily available in health food stores, and chanca
> piedra, the Amazonian herb extract, available from Raintree
> Nutrition (www.rain-tree.com or 800-780-5902). Now, here's
> another approach that you can adopt, either alone or in
> conjunction with these supplement therapies. If you know someone
> who lives in fear of their next kidney stone attack, please pass
> this information along.
>
> To Your Good Health,
>
> Jenny Thompson
> Health Science Institute
>