A&P II

So I think this is my last one...if we only have to have 40 points, and each blog is worth 5, then I hope I'm right....

I remember in my high school A&P class, we had to complete a project and presentation on diseases of certain body systems. I still remember one presentation clearly. It was regarding kidney stones. I remember my classmate stating that kidney stones were crystallized calcium deposits, which you could get from many different things, but also from ingesting too much calcium. I was concerned about this, because I drink a lot of milk and am often encouraged to do so, in light of osteoporosis running in my family. I did a little research...

Renal calculi (stones) can vary in size from as small as grains of sand to as large as a golf ball. Kidney stones typically leave the body by passage in the urine stream, and many stones are formed and passed without causing symptoms. If stones grow to sufficient size before passage they can cause obstruction of the ureter, resulting in severe pain. The most common type of kidney stone is composed of calcium oxalate crystals, occurring in about 80% of cases.

Common sense has long held that consumption of too much calcium could promote the development of calcium kidney stones. However, current evidence suggests that the consumption of low-calcium diets is actually associated with a higher overall risk for the development of kidney stones. This is could be related to the role of calcium in binding ingested oxalate in the gastrointestinal tract. As the amount of calcium intake decreases, the amount of oxalate available for absorption into the bloodstream increases; this oxalate is then excreted in greater amounts into the urine by the kidneys. In the urine, oxalate is a very strong promoter of calcium oxalate precipitation, about 15 times stronger than calcium. Isn't it amazing what's changed in just a few years?

I hope you all have a great summer! See you in the fall.
AImee