Category: Diet

Posted in detox, Diet, Food, Kidneys

Oxalates

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

For an issue found underlying in so many auto-immune and chronic problems, there is precious little knowledge of oxalates. A Pub Med article about reducing oxalates ultimately concludes that what is known is nearly negated by what isn’t.

Oxalic acid is a dianion with 2 carbon and 4 oxygen molecules expressed like this C2O4-2. Because of the negative charge, it will attract positively charged ions in the body such as calcium, potassium, and sodium forming oxalic salts.

Potassium oxalate and sodium oxalate are soluble in the blood, but calcium oxalate is not. Being insoluble, calcium oxalate can get taken up in the bloodstream and deposited all over the body into organs, even the thyroid and eyes, causing cell death, inflammation and pain in muscles, joints, and urinary tract. Crystallized calcium oxalates are hard, pointy, razor sharp, and visible like sand in feces. They are the precursors to kidney stones.

If you are dealing with auto-immune conditions like leaky gut, autism, IBS, or Crohns you are more likely to suffer from oxalates because the body is simply not able to effectively get rid of these toxins. In fact, it really isn’t known which came first, the chronic condition or the oxalate problem. That is to say, some believe the oxalates are the cause of the problem.

So far, the best way to prevent calcium oxalate crystals is to avoid high oxalate foods like nuts, chocolate, buckwheat, bran cereals and whole-wheat products, beans, green leafy vegetables, many kinds of berries and citrus peels. We should instead focus on low-oxalate foods like bananas, melons, cherries, lean meats, corn-based cereals (non-GMO), cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, kohlrabi, mushrooms and citrus juices. This is not going to thrill those who believe in the keto-diet because many of the foods on the latest fad list are high oxalate foods. Same story for those who are juicing to ‘detox’ – many of those detoxifiers are chalk full of oxalates.

An organized chart of low, medium, and high oxalate foods can be found here, but I definitely recommend comparing several sources because of conflicting information and new research being published. For example, kale is high in oxalate, but recently it was found that dinosaur kale is not near as high. Potatoes are high; however, red potatoes are much lower. Harvard found Brussels sprouts to be low in oxalate while many other sources say they are medium or high. Some say you can cook or boil oxalates out, but highly regarded sources say that is not true. So, be sure to research several resources and keep a food journal.

Something I found so intriguing from the Pub Med article referenced in my first paragraph is that an undamaged gut biome naturally contains Oxalobacter formigenes, a good bacteria that both decreases oxalate absorption and promotes intestinal oxalate secretion. In a gut biome that is destroyed, as with leaky gut, autism, IBS, food allergies, etc – this bacteria isn’t found. Surprise, surprise, surprise; another massive train wreck fail from the overuse of antibiotics, GMO foods, and glyphosate literally scorching our guts and ruining our immunity. Unfortunately, the production of the natural probiotic is taking the pharma route, so who knows when it will be available, how much it will cost, or if it will be effective in properly reseeding the gut.

We have battled oxalates for a very long time and we have the most success by indeed, following a low ox diet and we do experience pain if that diet is altered. I have found that filtered water, lemons, baking soda, and calcium and magnesium supplement (without D3) with meals have helped to keep oxalate issues at bay. While it seems the calcium would be counterproductive, it’s not. It helps to bind the oxalates and move them out. For us, supplemental vitamin C increases the oxalate problems, so we get that from food sources only, and supplement with a different anti-oxidant, Alpha Lipoic Acid, instead.

A great source for all kinds of oxalate and kidney research is Pub Med. Other very helpful websites I have found are these: