This will change how you see osteoporosis

This is going to change how you see osteoporosis. Let's dive right in.

Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast, the show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your best life. I'm your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris.

And I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse. Right after the holidays! We're in between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

That black hole! Where you don't know what the hell's going on anymore, what day it is. Nothing.

How are you, Jeff? Good?

Yeah, I'm good. Yeah.

Good.

Oh, yeah. And speaking of that turnover, too, we had a little a little hiccup with the meal plans today that totally caught me off guard. But it was almost like an old-school Y2K thing, like just flipping over the year made it refresh.

But, I mean, all that to say, that's all fixed, so if you're not on the KSD meal plans, go to kidneystonediet.com and you can get recipes for every day of the week to know what to eat.

Hundreds of them, hundreds. Kidney Stone Diet-safe meals, yep.

Yeah, absolutely.

But we have a listener question from Tammy, and that's where we're diving into osteoporosis. So, let's listen to what Tammy has to say.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Tammy, and I'm from Iowa. I have osteoporosis. I have not had a kidney stone as of yet.

I drink a little over 2.5 L of water a day. I should say liquid or fluids as that includes my milk. I do currently drink cow's milk, but my urine calcium is, well, was 11 back at the end of July, and I just had it retested today in November, the end of November, and it was 10.9.

And for the last 6 weeks, I have been sugar-free, low sodium, 1,100 to 1,200 max, and so, just wondering if maybe switching my calcium source from dairy milk to a plant-based product might be helpful? Was also curious regarding like the cow's milk and natural calcium versus the plant-based, where they fortify the milk with calcium.

What's the difference between that and actually taking a calcium supplement? Thank you. Love your podcast.

Tammy, Tammy, Tammy. Thanks for, you know, it makes us so happy when you guys call in because then we get to hear you. It makes us feel closer to you.

And I know I'm a sap, so shut up all of you, but I like it. That's what we're trying to create here, a nice community. It makes me very happy, makes Jeff very happy, and we want to keep Jeff happy, everybody.

And if you're out there with a question, that number is 773-789-8764. But, yeah, thank you, Tammy, so we can dive right in the osteoporosis.

Yeah, so, so let me, cuz let me get my head together. So, Tammy says she has osteoporosis. She has not had a kidney stone yet, thank God.

But she's, I love that she called and said, "I haven't had one yet," but she's lowering sugar, she's lowering salt, she's doing what the Kidney Stone Diet goals ar- are said to help lower your risk. And since she already has osteoporosis, she's not dumb. She's like, " I better pay attention because I don't want to get a kidney stone." She's drinking her fluids, very good, over 2.5 L a day.

All fluids count, that's awesome. She's drinking cow's milk, which is great. I'd prefer natural.

Natural calcium is the top is what I would prefer people to have. We absorb it best. Then plant milk.

Then supplements, if you must. There's plenty of research that shows that calcium supplements can lead to too much calcium in the urine, and that can make a kidney stone. The plant milks, we don't really have any research on the plant milks yet.

And Tammy, I have a whole video dedicated to the plant milks and, you know, why aren't they considered a supplement? They are. But we seem to absorb them better than the pills.

But the plant milk should be taken just like the pill form of supplements, with food. Shake that plant milk up a lot so that calcium supplement is dispersed, but take it with, ideally, a full meal, all right? And so this thing between osteoporosis and kidney stones, oh, and let me just say this.

Well, you could say, "Well, there's no research. How the hell do we know we're absorbing it?" Because I'm looking at urine collections all day long from people, I'd say half of my patient population is using plant milk and they don't have high urine calcium. So, I'm going on this.

Hopefully, because these plant milks have been so popular—remember, no cashew or almond milk, high in oxalate, don't do those. All the other milks are good. I like the Ripple pea milk myself because it has some protein in there, because of the peas.

When was it you started again? Was it 1999? Was it 1999 when you started?

1998.

Yeah, so thousands of patients in those years.

Yeah, a long time. Yeah. So, and so I'm not seeing, "Holy Perchot!" you know, "Pam's on cashew Ripple milk and there's all this high urine calcium." I'm not seeing that.

I'm hoping one day that the plant, and I've put some requests to the scientists out there, "Can you study patients who are using plant milk and calcium absorption?" Okay? For me, I use lactose-free dairy. I want the protein that's in the dairy and I want the natural calcium, okay?

We do We There's so much research on calcium pills that they can lead to kidney stone formation. Okay, now, osteoporosis and kidney stones, here's another thing that I see when I'm looking at urine collections. Patients, and you won't know you have this, folks, unless you do a urine collection, your urine calcium is high.

That's why you're making kidney stones, because you have too much calcium in your urine. It's not being absorbed, or it's breaking down from your bone because you're eating too much salt, added sugar, and meat protein, or you have genetics that lead you to high urine calcium, and the medical term for that is idiopathic hypercalciuria.

That means you have a family history of it, there's genetics, you're going to need to be put on a pill. The correlation between kidney stones and osteoporosis is many. Most of you are going to have, you're losing calcium, and also, for both diseases, you're not getting enough calcium until you get one of these diseases, and a doctor says, "You need to get some calcium.

Your bone mass is down. You have a kidney stone." Well, Jill, why would I need to get calcium if I have too much in my urine? Because that, most likely, in many instances, not all, is coming from your bone.

When we eat too much salt and added sugar, it pushes calcium out of your bone and dumps it into your urine. This is my way of explaining it, it's simple, but there's lots of science. Go to Fred Coe, my mentor, at kidney stone.uchicago.edu, and all the science is there, that's where it lives.

My job is to bring it down home so we can all understand it. So, you also said, Tammy, that your urine calcium is 11 and now it your urine calcium is 10.9, but those are blood values for calcium. 'Cause calcium is typically in the hundreds in your in your urine, okay?

When your blood calcium goes over 10, you should talk to your doctor, and yours was as high as 11 and now just a little under 11, should talk to your doctor about hyperparathyroidism. Could be your parathyroid is not working or working over, because that controls calcium in your body. And typically when your blood calcium is too high, that's be- that's a parathyroid issue, but please talk to your doctor about that.

Those are not urine calcium values, those are blood calcium values, and they are high. That doesn't mean you're taking in too much calcium, it could be a medical condition with your parathyroid. So, the amount of calcium you're taking is just great.

Post-menopausal women should be getting up to, not over, 1,200 mg of calcium at a time, at a time, and if you don't get your period, and if, sorry, if you do get your period, up to 1,000 per day of calcium. Guys, up to 1,000 mg of calcium a day, okay? So, the correlation, many kidney stone formers, when I've done a urine collection with them, they will have high urine calcium.

High urine calcium is over 200. How I look at it, and how your doctor will look at it at a urine collection, if the urine calcium is high, I know when I'm looking at a urine collection, the next thing I go to is your sodium in your urine collection. Is it high?

If it's high, that could be causing the high urine calcium. If the patient's sugar is too high for that day, that can increase urine calcium. If the patient is on a carnivore diet, eating a shit ton of meat, that can also lead to high urine calcium.

And then there's other medical conditions that can lead to it, like I said, the parathyroid, other things. But the first thing you want to check, is the patient doing the diet? She said she is.

She's on low salt, low added sugar. So, she's still losing calcium, and her doctors need to find out why that is. I am not a doctor, I am a nurse, but I would definitely talk to your doctor about your parathyroid, especially since what this seems is you have high blood calcium.

So, that needs to be ruled out. And is it the reason for your osteoporosis? Right?

So, when I'm seeing a high urine calcium, and I know this is meaty, guys, it's a lot of information, but when I see high urine calcium, I've seen it in thousands of urine collections because it's such a primary reason why you guys are making kidney stones. And, again, you won't know that until you do a urine collection.

So, when I see the high urine calcium, I'm like, please talk to your doctor about getting a DEXA scan to check your bone health. And I can't tell you how many patients write me back and they say, "Jill, I did that, and I do have osteopenia," or "I do have full-blown osteoporosis," because they are leaking calcium and they've got to figure out why.

If it's not diet-related, is it from another medical condition like hyperparathyroidism? Is it could be from just genetics? You know, your mom had it, losing urine calcium, now you are, your sister.

So, those the result of too much calcium coming out in your urine can act absolutely cause kidney stones and absolutely osteoporosis. And so, that's why we need to get normal amounts of calcium, 'cause we could be losing it. So, it's it's complicated, guys, but it's really important that you get enough calcium, you check your bone health, you when I go over the urine collection and I see a high urine calcium, I'll say, "Here are your talking points with your doctor.

Please go talk to your doctor about all these ways in which you could have a high urine calcium based upon these things that could be going on." And I spoon-feed patients what to talk to their doctor about in that visit so that visit becomes valuable to you. You don't know what you don't know until you, you know, you learn, and that's why Jeff and I do this YouTube show so you can learn these things.

Kidneystonediet.com has so much information you'll cry on it. All the answers. And, of course, we have the All-Access Pass, which will get you all paid services except private consults, but even a discount on private consults, e- everything I sell from, you know, recipes, meal plan, group calls, it's all there, folks.

Go ahead, Jeff.

Yeah, the prevention course and everything.

Yes.

But, yeah. Yeah, I think this was perfect. This was a great like synopsis of or put in that connection between osteoporosis, urine calcium, and kidney stones.

It's huge, and I think that's something that not enough people talk about.

It's not. And, also, I'm going to scream again. I'm on a mission.

Besides eating more fruits and vegetables this year, folks, can we please start considering doing some strength training? It's really important to ward off bone disease. You know, I'm 61 now, and I my bone health is really great considering, and my doctors were worried for me 'cause of all the chemo and radiation I've had, but it's good because I lift weights.

And you don't have to be a total gym freak in there or, you know, just doing some calisthenics, doing some push-ups off the wall, doing body weight, you know. You don't have to go to the gym if you don't want to, but please, I do it because I love it, but, also, I want to be able to get out of my chair in 10 years, and I really, really, really want you to consider it, folks.

It's super important. Don't wait till you're 80 and in a lot of trouble with your bone health, okay? It's important.

Yeah, and if you want more about fitness and working out and things, even if you don't leave a comment, just put the little muscle emoji in the comments below, and we'll know that you saw this part.

Excellent.

Awesome. Well, yeah, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for the question, Tammy.

You can find everything you need at kidneystonediet.com, and with that, we'll wrap for this week and see you next.

Thanks for calling in, Tammy!