The effects of vegetable and animal protein diets on calcium, urate and oxalate excretion.

A group of 30 meat eating normal subjects were compared with a second group of vegetarians matched for age and sex. Their diets and urinary excretion patterns were compared by statistical analysis. A link between protein intake, particularly animal protein, and urinary calcium excretion was demonstrated and also that dietary calcium was inversely related to urinary oxalate excretion. Urinary oxalate increases with the vegetable protein content of the diet, but within the limits of these diets, animal protein does not affect oxalate excretion though it does affect excretion of urinary urate.