The comparative effects of feeding ammonium carbonate, ammonium sulfate, and ammonium chloride on urinary calcium excretion in the rat

When either sulfate or chloride is added to the diet, the resulting acid load causes a rise in urinary calcium excretion. There is, however, the possibility that sulfate, which has been shown to complex renal tubular calcium, will further decrease renal calcium reabsorption and thus produce a greater calciuria than chloride. Because addition of a fixed cation (e.g., sodium) to the diet may also stimulate calciuresis, experiments were conducted using metabolizable ammonium to minimize cation effects. Ammonium salts of sulfate, chloride, and carbonate (control) were added to the diets of male rats at 0.3 mequiv./g weight of diet. Twenty-four hour excretion rates of calcium, sulfate, chloride, and net acid were measured at various intervals up to 1 month. As expected, the chloride and sulfate diets were both associated with significantly elevated urine calcium and net acid excretion as compared with controls. However, those fed sulfate exhibited significantly less calcium and acid excretion and absorbed a smaller proportion of the anion load than those given chloride. In a second experiment, the amounts of supplemental sulfate and chloride were adjusted so that total absorptions were similar. At 2 weeks, both calcium and acid excretions in the fixed anion groups were no longer significantly different. Thus, in chronic feeding trials, there appears to be no measurable difference in the calciuretic properties of sulfate and chloride anions.