Foods rich in oxalates

Oxalates are antinutrients, a scientific term used to refer to compounds that reduce the body's ability to absorb or use essential nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals.

Specifically, foods that contain oxalates can reduce the amount of calcium your body absorbs. This is because oxalate can bind to calcium and cause this mineral to pass through you without the intestines having a chance to absorb it. They can also cause kidney stones.

Foods with oxalates

Oxalate is generally not found in animal products. The foods with the highest concentration of oxalates are rhubarb, chocolate (the higher the percentage of cocoa), spinach, beet greens, almonds, chard, cashews and peanuts. Other foods with oxalates worth considering include:

Vegetables and legumes

• Okra
• Nabo
• Parsley
• Celery
• Leek
• Green beans
• Potato (roasted with skin and fried)
• French Fries
• Beet greens
• Canned tomato sauce
• bean
• Broad beans
• Soybean

Fruit

• Pineapple
• Plum
• Kiwi
• FIG
• Grapes
• Lemon and lime (skin)

Grain

• Corn
• Oatmeal
• Wheat
• Quinoa

Berries

• blackberry
• Blueberry
• Raspberry
• Strawberry
• Currant

Nuts

• Hazelnut
• Pecans
• Pistachios

Seeds

• Sesame
• Sunflower seeds
• Pumpkin seeds

Plants and condiments

• Tea
• Dill
• Black pepper
• Cinnamon
• Basil
• Mustard
• Nutmeg

Notes:

• The oxalate levels in these foods can vary based on when they were harvested and where they were grown.
• The levels of this antinutrient are usually higher in the leaves of plants than in their stems and roots.
• Since it is found in numerous foods, it is very difficult to completely eliminate it from the diet. And even if you do, your body will still harbor oxalate, since it has a variety of ways of making it on its own.

Are oxalates harmful?

In principle, eating foods with oxalate is not harmful. This passes through the digestive tract and finally is expelled in stool or urine. Although oxalates can reduce calcium absorption, they do not completely block it.

It would take extremely large amounts of the same oxalate-rich foods day after day for their effect on your nutritional status to be significant and lead to bone weakening. As long as a varied diet is followed, an adequate dose of calcium is obtained each day and the intestines are allowed to do their work normally, small inhibition of calcium absorption caused by oxalates should not be a problem.

Calcium oxalate and kidney stones

People with kidney stones, especially calcium oxalate kidney stones (which are the most common type), are advised to limit their intake of foods that are high in oxalate. The objective is reduce the risk of recurrence. The higher a person's oxalate levels, the greater their risk of developing this class of kidney stones.

Low oxalate diets usually limit it to 50 mg daily. Boiling oxalate-rich vegetables is a great way not to exceed this limit, as this technique can reduce their concentrations by between 30 and 90 percent, depending on the vegetable chosen.

Drinking enough fluids is the best way to prevent kidney stones, although in the case of calcium oxalate stones, it is necessary to avoid juices with a high content of oxalates, such as cranberry or apple.

Another approach that is used is combining foods rich in oxalates with foods rich in calcium. This helps the body better handle oxalates and offers the possibility of not giving up these foods and their other nutrients, including vitamin K, magnesium, and antioxidants. Consider getting between 800 and 1.200 mg of calcium daily from foods high in calcium and low in oxalate, such as the following:

• Cheese
• Natural yogurt
• Canned fish
• Broccoli

What Causes Oxalate Buildup?

Lack of calcium can also increase the amount of oxalate that reaches the kidneys. In addition, taking too much vitamin C can lead to excess oxalate in the body. In this way, it is important not to exceed 1.000 mg of vitamin C daily.

Taking antibiotics and digestive diseases (such as inflammatory bowel disease) can also increase oxalate levels in the body. And is that the good bacteria in the intestines help to eliminate it (even before they bind to calcium) and, therefore, when the levels of these bacteria are low, the person runs the risk of absorbing greater amounts of oxalate from the food.

This suggests that people who have taken antibiotics or suffer from intestinal dysfunction may benefit from a low-oxalate diet. People with kidney stones should also pay close attention to oxalates, but the rest do not need to avoid these nutrient dense foods just because they are high in oxalates.