Osteoporosis in Children?

My 7 year old brother was just diagnosed with Osteoporosis. He has a kidney disease that makes his body produce to much calcium, but it doesn't absorb any of it. They can't put him on calcium because then his body makes kidney stones. Has anyone heard of this or know anything about it?

Edit: I know about Osteoporosis I want to know if anyone has heard of it in children and with Kidney problems?

Osteoporosis is a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced, bone microarchitecture is disrupted, and the amount and variety of non-collagenous proteins in bone is altered. Osteoporosis is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in women as a bone mineral density 2.5 standard deviations below peak bone mass (20-year-old healthy female average) as measured by DXA; the term "established osteoporosis" includes the presence of a fragility fracture. Osteoporosis is most common in women after menopause, when it is called postmenopausal osteoporosis, but may also develop in elderly men, and may occur in anyone in the presence of particular hormonal disorders and other chronic diseases or as a result of medications, specifically glucocorticoids, when the disease is called steroid- or glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (SIOP or GIOP). Given its influence on the risk of fragility fracture, osteoporosis may significantly affect life expectancy and quality of life.

Osteoporosis can be prevented with lifestyle advice and sometimes medication, and in people with osteoporosis treatment may involve lifestyle advice, preventing falls and medication (calcium, vitamin D, bisphosphonates and several others).

This is not exactly good news for your brother or the family, but there are natural ways of greatly improving the situation.

It's good the doctors think they can't put him on calcium. This would not be the solution - at least not the calcium sold in pharmacies/drugstores. The body does not absorb it well.

Good calcium which is much better absorbed and does not contribute to kidney stones is found in the following:

- all green leafy vegetables (spinach, parsley, broccoli, leeks, green paprika, etc.). Also nettles (nettle soup is delicious) and algae.

- sesame seeds, hazelnuts, almonds

- fresh lemon

He can never eat too much of this.

In addition he should associate vitamin D to calcium. Play in the sun as often as possible. Capsules of codliver oil are also a good source of vitamin D if you live in a place where the sun doesn't shine so often. If he takes codliver oil capsules, do not take more than the recommended dose on the package.

- To enhance absorption of calcium, he should also take magnesium (magnesium citrate bought at drugstores/pharmacies for example) and phosphorus which you find in cabbage, carrots, radishes, asparagus, eggs, meat, fish and brewer's yeast. Eat reasonably of these for phosphor, but do not eat exclusively these or too much brewer's yeast as too much phosphorus will have the opposite effect and deplete the body from calcium.

He should keep away from the following:

- Coca cola and all drinks containing CO2 (fizzy drinks and soda) which make the blood acid, and the blood goes to get calcium in the skeleton to restore its acid-alcaline balance.

- all dairy products which are, alas! as acid as Coke when they come out of the dairies and play havock with our bodies! Milk is NOT a healthy food!

With a good healthy diet and reasonable exercice to strengthen his muscles and support his bones, he should have a much better chance to be fine.

All the best to him and to you!