Lithotrisy to break up calcium deposits

DEAR DR. ROACH: Could a variation on lithotripsy, which is used to break up kidney and gallstones, be used to disrupt calcium deposits in cardiovascular tissue?

ANSWER: The calcium in blood vessels, whether they go to the heart (predisposing to heart attack), brain (predisposing to stroke) or the legs (predisposing to peripheral arterial disease) is contained within the wall of the blood vessel itself.

In the case of kidney and gallstones, the stones are within the lumen (“lumen” is a general term for any hollow tube, in this case the urinary ducts and bile ducts, respectively). Breaking up the stones into small pieces allows the remnants to flow downstream and be excreted. In the wall of the blood vessel, there is no place for them to go.

Reversal of blockages in blood vessels can occur either with lifestyle changes (a study by Dean Ornish showed a reversal with a combination of quitting smoking, a very-low-fat diet, regular exercise and stress management) or, in some cases, with medication.

DEAR DR. ROACH: My wife read an article that said women should not take more than 8 milligrams of zinc. Her eye doctor gave her pills containing 80 milligrams of zinc. She says she will not take them because of the amount of zinc. Is she right?

ANSWER: The recommended daily allowance of zinc for women is 8 milligrams, meaning that this dose should prevent zinc deficiency in 97 per cent of people getting that amount.

Amounts up to 80 milligrams are considered safe, and the AREDS study, which looked at doses of 80 milligrams, confirmed that safety.

The major concern of excess zinc is that it can prevent absorption of copper, so copper supplementation should be a part of the supplement her eye doctor gave her.