On Fri, 27 Feb 1998, Mary wrote:

> How do we avoid excreting too much calcium? I read on Raw Foods that high
> protein diets make one excrete lots of calcium.

It's true.  The more protein you eat, the more calcium you lose.
But this only means that you should get plenty of calcium, which
is not a problem if you eat a good amount of greens and avoid
whole grains, which block the absorption of calcium.

> Do we ensure that we do not excrete too much calcium by also making sure we
> eat enough fat?(to counterbalance the protein)

To my knowledge, fat doens't enter into it.  The more protein you
eat, the more calcium you need.  But it should not be a problem
if you are not at the same time eating a lot of whole grains.  A
person eating a high-protein diet that is also rich in whole
grains would have to worry, though.

> The Raw Foods post also mentioned stress on the kidneys from too much protein.

This is what the kidneys do for a living.  They're *supposed* to
have this kind of stress.  There's no evidence that "too much"
protein *causes* kidney disease.

> Does anyone else worry about this??

Well, the incidence of osteoporosis among Eskimos suggests that
in extreme cases it could be a problem, but I don't think the
rest of us have much to worry about.

Todd Moody
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