Kidney Stones: Too Much Salt or Too Much Melamine?

Researchers and experts on kidney stones say that they are being found in children as young as 5 and 6 years old. A New York Times article out today states that doctors attribute it to, among other things, the amount of salt found in items such as "packaged meals".

“What we’ve really seen is an increase in the salt load in children’s diet,” said Dr. Bruce L. Slaughenhoupt, co-director of pediatric urology and of the pediatric kidney stone clinic at the University of Wisconsin. He and other experts mentioned not just salty chips and French fries, but also processed foods like sandwich meats; canned soups; packaged meals; and even sports drinks like Gatorade, which are so popular among schoolchildren they are now sold in child-friendly juice boxes.

It is my understanding that analyses of kidney stones is possible. Without removing them and analyzing the kidney stones in humans, how can one tell with certainty what is causing the stone? If it is possible, I'd like to know. If we are going by word of mouth as to what the parent said the child has been eating, then what? How is salt the primary culprit?

Some of the the unfortunate pets who lost their lives had large kidney stones that were studied by researchers after they died. It sounds silly, but is it really only a coincidence that recent research indicates that kidney stones are on the rise in ages where they were rarely seen before, and an October 2008 report states that kidney disease is up 30% in the past decade, and that melamine, a chemical that when ingested can cause kidney stones and kidney failure, has been found in the human food supply in milk, eggs, meat? We know that manufacturers of "packaged meals" use raw ingredients such as wheat gluten, egg powder and vegetable proteins...items that could come from China, a place where melamine is used as an additive in these foods. 

Is there research that lists drinking water more as a preventative measure to avoid kidney stones? Or are we being told that we need to drink more water, pee more often and eat less salt to avoid kidney stones? Or are we being told that we need to drink more water, pee more often to flush out the low levels of melamine are are supposedly not a health risk? I guess we need to drink and pee a lot to make sure those low levels of melamine don't develop into anything else? 

When my son was sick last December with unexplainable severe stomach pain, the doctor didn't check for kidney stones, the doctor didn't ask me what my son was eating. I knew my son was eating the Lotte Koala cookies and other "prepared meals". We immediately eliminated them and pared down his diet to some whole foods, he drank water and got some rest. It was an instinct to eliminate those cookies and other crap from his diet (and the recent wheat gluten/raw ingredients pet food scare from earlier in 2007 in the back of my mind). Maybe the medical community needs to do more to relay info about "packaged meals" or note it in their files for later use and for researchers to access. 

In December of 2007, was it the salt that gave my son a severe stomach ache and possible kidney stone - or was it the astronomically high levels of melamine in the cookies?