
Ron, you are absolutely right.  Not all kidney stones have calcium and not 
all calcium stones are calcium-oxalate.  But the vast majority are calcium-
oxalate.  Calcium is just one piece of the puzzle.  I cited that NEJM article 
as a way of pointing out to some of the physicians in this group that 
conventional wisdom is used in medicine, always has been and probably 
always will be.  If one uses conventional wisdom, there is a chance that 
you will be wrong.  As long as the error is not going to cause a lot of 
damage, what's the big deal(why call a physician who gives anti-fungals to 
sinus suffers or GI distress patients a quack?).

On the kidney stone problem.  I'd want a mineral profile run in a clinical 
chemistry lab.  Balance is much more important than the dietary intake of 
calcium.  I know that you use an electrical conductance technique to 
measure mineral balance in the body.  I know that you don't think that the 
serum levels for minerals are very useful(I agree).  If I can get a good 
nutritional assessment lab setup where I can actually measure the tissue 
reserve for minerals, I'd like to do a collaborative study with you to see 
how your technique compares with mine.
