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Example research essay topic: Excess Dietary Protein And Calcium - 1,183 words

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INTRODUCTION: Osteoporosis is the major public health problem in the United States because the disease costs million lives and dollars. Osteoporosis, which means "porous bones, " is a condition of excessive skeletal fragility resulting in bones that break easily. A combination of genetic, dietary, hormonal, age-related, and lifestyle factors all contribute to this condition. Osteoporosis leads to 1. 5 million fractures, or breaks, per year, mostly in the hip, spine and wrist, with the cost of treatment estimated at $ 10 billion to $ 15 billion a year, according to the National Institutes of Health. It threatens 25 million Americans, mostly older women and men.

One in three women past 50 will suffer a vertebral fracture, according to the foundation (Munger 147). These numbers are predicted to rise as the population ages. Most causes of osteoporosis are uncontrollable, such as genetics and ages. However, there are also dietary factors and living lifestyles that contribute greatly to the disease. For more than half a century there were studies and research, which showed that that diets high in protein increase calcium resorption from bone and urinary calcium excretion, thus, increasing the risks for osteoporosis and other diseases (Munger 149 - 52). First, this paper will give evidences about how diets that are high in protein contents can cause hypercalciuria.

Second, it will give the mechanism of how hypercalciuria is caused. Lastly, it will present what types of people are affected by this disease, and how diets high in fruit and vegetables can reverse the process. THE EVIDENCES: There were many researches and studies, which proved that high consumption of dietary protein could lead t urinary calcium excretion, and eventually caused hypercalciuria. One of those evidences was a study conducted by Dr. Jane Kerstetter at the School of Allied Health. His study concluded that high levels of dietary protein increased urinary calcium excretion and induced negative calcium balance.

The experiment had sixteen healthy women (aged 20 - 40 yr) as participants. The control was a two-week diet containing moderate amounts of calcium, sodium, and protein. Followed the control was the experimental diet, which was four days long and consisted of one of three levels of protein (low, moderate, or high). On day four, serum and urinary calcium, serum PTH, 1, 25 -dihydroxy vitamin D, serum osteocalcin, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, and urinary N-telopeptide excretion were measured (Kerstetter 1053 - 4). The cycle of a 2 -week adjustment period and a 4 -day experimental period was repeated two more times until all subjects received each of the three levels of dietary protein in random order.

The study was approved by human investigation committees at both Yale University and the University of Connecticut. After the experiment has been completed, the results showed significant high levels of urinary calcium and N-telopeptide excretion on the high protein diet. The study concluded that a medium protein intake induced no change in mineral homeostasis, intestinal calcium absorption, or bone turnover rates. However, high levels of dietary protein were associated with increased rates of bone resorption (Kerstetter 1054 - 5). The following figure compares the excretion of N-telopeptide on day 4 between the low and high protein diet among the young female participants. Furthermore, another cross-sectional study about the correlation between dietary protein intake and calcium excretion was followed by Dr.

Itoh, Nirshiyama, and Suyama. The subjects were 349 male and 406 female Japanese age 20 - 79 years. They were then divided into two groups: those aged 20 - 49 years and those age 50 - 79 years. The subjects were free to choose which types of foods to eat and what levels of protein to consume. The observed data revealed a significant positive correlation between daily urinary excretion of calcium and protein intake in both sexes and in each age group (Itoh 438 - 50). The positive correlation between calcium excretion and urea excretion implied that, "in this free-living population where dietary patterns and lifestyles were fairly homogeneous, increases in habitual protein intake from self-selected diets enhanced urinary excretion of calcium (Itoh 449). " The calculations estimated that an increase in urinary calcium excretion was 1 - 2 mg, and 75 % of nitrogen ingested as protein was excreted as urinary urea nitrogen.

In addition, the study examined whether the calcitic effect of protein depended on the protein source. Evidence showed that animal protein intake positively correlated with calcium excretion in each sex and age group, whereas plant protein intake increased calcium excretion in women aged 50 - 79 years. In conclusion, the findings suggested that the contribution of protein intake, especially animal protein, correlated greatly with calcium excretion (Itoh 451 - 2). The Dr Kerstetter's study only proved that high protein diets led to the excretion of urinary calcium in healthy women. However, the experiment conducted by Dr Itoh, Nirshiyama, and Suyama not only proved that excess proteins could affect both healthy women and men.

Indeed, excess consumption of protein can have influential effects on any individual regardless of age, sex, or race. MECHANISMS: Studies showed that a diet that is high in animal protein and low in fruits and vegetables comprises of mainly sulfates and phosphates. Therefore, it generates a large amount of acid. As the result, the kidneys will have a positive net of acid excretion. Indeed, hypercalciuria is directly related to net acid excretion. Different dietary proteins differ greatly in their potential renal acid load (PRAL), and therefore in their acidogenic effect (Barrel 1051 - 52).

If a diet is high in acid-ash protein, it will cause excessive calcium loss due to its acidogenic content. An acid-ash diet is a diet that creates acid in the process of its metabolism. Some examples of foods that have high PRAL are fish, meats, and many grain products. In contrast, milk and non-cheese dairy products have low PRAL. Fruits and vegetables have a negative PRAL, which means that they supply alkali-ash. Indeed, consumptions of fruits and vegetables will oppose the hypercalciuric effects caused by high protein diets.

To give a visual demonstration, the following table will give the PRAL values for some of the food groups (Barrel 1053). In the table below, some values of the meat products that contain high amounts of proteins show high PRAL values whereas foods with lower protein show lower PRAL values and vegetables show negative PRAL. For examples, cheese with higher protein content contains 23. 6 mEG/ 100 g, fish have 7. 9 mEG/ 100 g, and fruits and vegetables have - 3. 1 mEG/ 100 g and - 2. 8 mEG/ 100 g. In response to the increase in the acid content caused by high protein intake, the body will use bicarbonate in the blood to raise the blood pH to the normal level. However, if the stress is prolonged, the body will use the skeleton to excrete buffers in order to alkalize the acidosis. Bone, the major component of the skeleton system, is a very large ion exchange buffer system.

Reports show that bone contains 80 % of total body carbonate in its hydration shell, and 80 % citrate and 35 % of...


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