Re: Hi, follow up from my attack 6 months ago...

Hi, Chris,

I'd like to comment on the old "calcium causes kidney stones" debate.

It isn't the calcium which causes kidney stones. You need calcium. Calcium isn't the problem, and my concern here is that you're going to do some fairly nasty things to yourself if you do everything you can to avoid calcium.

(Part of) The problem is other substances which cause the calcium to form an insoluble precipitate in your kidneys, which then forms stones. Oxalic acid, for example -- calcium oxalate is one known stone forming substance. Oxalic acid can be found in, um... ants... and, um... spinach? Probably a few other sources.

Phosphoric acid (thanks, Coke & Pepsi) is another one. Calcium phosphate is another stone former.

I think there are seven known stone forming precipitates, but I can't recall them all at the moment, and I don't have my tomes of massive learnedness on hand. *wink* Anyway, you should have your stones analyzed to determine what exactly they consist of and then avoid consuming things which contain whatever the OTHER substance is, NOT the calcium.

The reason that avoiding calcium isn't going to help is that your body has a nice big supply of calcium which it uses for lots of purposes, everything from neural transmission to cellular division. Your body will rob your bones of calcium to keep these activities going, and also to keep your blood at the proper pH (about 7.4 -- slightly alkaline). Until you're completely devoid of calcium (and thus dead), your body will keep leeching it from your bones, and you'll still form stones, particularly when you consume something that reacts with calcium to form stone-forming precipitates. And then your body will steal more calcium from your bones, and things just get worse and worse.

Chances are, the basic problem with your stones is simply a high pH situation, usually caused by a lack of minerals and trace elements. In other words, strange though it may seem, lack of *usable* calcium might have more to do with your kidney stones than too much.

I suggest that you look into the information available on: restoring your body's pH to slightly alkaline levels, trace minerals, colloidal minerals, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. See if any of it seems right to you, and then pursue it. Just please don't buy into the "I must avoid calcium" argument until you've pursued this a bit more.

Good luck!

=-John-=
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