In this episode, Jill Harris discusses the relationship between osteoporosis and kidney stones, emphasizing the importance of calcium intake and hydration. She addresses a listener’s question about managing osteoporosis while preventing kidney stones, highlighting dietary choices and the role of urine calcium levels. The conversation also touches on the significance of strength training for maintaining bone health as one ages.
Takeaways
- Osteoporosis can lead to kidney stones due to calcium loss.
- Dietary choices, such as lowering sugar and salt, are crucial.
- Natural calcium sources are preferred over supplements.
- Plant milks may be beneficial but require further research.
- High urine calcium can indicate underlying health issues.
- Strength training is essential for maintaining bone health.
- Regular urine collections can help monitor calcium levels.
- Consulting a doctor about parathyroid health is important.
- Postmenopausal women need up to 1,200 mg of calcium daily.
- A balanced diet and exercise can prevent bone diseases.
00:00 Introduction to Osteoporosis and Kidney Stones
01:52 Understanding Calcium and Its Role
10:39 The Importance of Strength Training for Bone Health
Jeff Sarris (00:00)
This is going to change how you see osteoporosis. Let’s dive right in.
we have a listener question from Tammy, and that’s where we’re diving in the osteoporosis. So let’s listen to what Tammy has to say.
Jill Harris (00:06)
Okay?
Okay.
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 makes me very happy makes Jeff very happy and we want to keep Jeff happy everybody
Jeff Sarris (01:37)
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely. And…
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. Osteoporosis.
Jill Harris (01:59)
Yeah,
let me get my head together. So Tammy says she has osteoporosis. She has not had a kidney stone yet. Thank God. But 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 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 two and a half liters 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 this 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. 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, would 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, higher 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. Huh?
Jeff Sarris (04:19)
And what year did you start again? Was it 1999?
Was it 1999 when you started? Was that it or 2000? Yeah. So thousands of patients in those years. Yeah.
Jill Harris (04:23)
1998.
Yeah, a long time.
So I’m not seeing holy brujo, know, Pam’s on cashew ripple milk and there’s all this high urine calcium and I’m not seeing that. I’m hoping one day that the plant, and I put some requests to the scientists out there, can you study patients who are using plant milk and calcium absorption? For me, I use lactose-free dairy. I want the protein that’s in the dairy.
and I want the natural calcium. 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 hypercalceria. 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
Many, most of you are going to have, 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 into your urine. is my way of explaining it, it’s simple but there’s a lot of science. Go to Fred Ko, my mentor at kidneystone.uchicago.edu and all the science is there, that’s where lives. My job is to bring it down home so we can all understand it.
You also said, Tammy, that your urine calcium is 11 and now your urine calcium is 10.9. But those are blood values for calcium. Because calcium is typically in the hundreds 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, you should talk to your doctor about hyperparathyroidism. Could be your parathyroid is not working or overworking because that controls calcium in your body. And typically when your blood calcium is too high, 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. Postmenopausal women should be getting up to not over 1,200 milligrams of calcium at a time. And if you don’t get your period, sorry, if you do get your period, up to 1,000.
per day of calcium. Guys, up to a thousand milligrams of calcium a day. 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 that the reason for your osteoporosis? Right?
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 all 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? it, 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 absolutely cause kidney stones and absolutely osteoporosis. And so that’s why we need to get normal amounts of calcium because we could be losing it. So it’s complicated guys, but it’s really important that you get enough calcium, you check your bone health, 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 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. Everything I sell from recipes, meal plan, group calls, it’s all there folks. Go ahead, Jeff.
Jeff Sarris (11:57)
Yeah, the prevention course, everything.
Yeah, the prevention course as well and just absolutely everything. But yeah, yeah, I think this was perfect. This is 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.
Jill Harris (12:01)
Yes.
And it’s
not. also I’m going to scream again, I’m on a mission. Besides eating more fruits and vegetables this year, 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 my bone health is really great considering, and my doctors were worried for me because of all the chemo and radiation I’ve had, but it’s good because I lift weights.
You don’t have to be a total gym freak in there. Just doing some calisthenics, doing some push-ups off the wall, doing body weight. 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, really want you to consider it, folks. It’s super important. Don’t wait till you’re 80 and in lot of trouble with your bone health, okay? It’s important.
Jeff Sarris (13:08)
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. yeah, awesome. Well, yeah, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for the question, Tammy, and you can find everything you need at kidneystonediet.com. And with that, we’ll wrap for this week and see you next.
Jill Harris (13:19)
Excellent.
Thanks for calling in, Tammy.
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