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Townsend Letter - This Road to Health Hell with Oxalates

Messages
516
Give supplements of calcium citrate and magnesium citrate to reduce oxalate absorption from the intestine. Citrate is the preferred calcium form to reduce oxalate because citrate also inhibits oxalate absorption from the intestinal tract.

Thanks at one point I was looking for that quote
 

Kathevans

Senior Member
Messages
689
Location
Boston, Massachusetts
Thanks for this post! It's terrific, though I found a couple of errors. Arugula is, in fact, very low oxalate (.71 oxalates/ 1/2 cup), and a wonderful replacement--along with watercress (low with 2.18 ox/ 1/2 cup)--for many green leafy things you might want to put in a salad! Also, blueberries are low. A half cup has only 4.3 whatevers/serving.
 

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
Seems backwards, like here is a lot of otherwise healthy stuff: Spinach, Kale, "a variety of berries or almonds" and now it's bad for us because it contains Anti-Freeze?
 

Kathevans

Senior Member
Messages
689
Location
Boston, Massachusetts
Well, oxalates are most damaging to you if you are gut-compromised, if you've taken a lot of antibiotics which can kill off the oxalate-eating bacteria that we generally have in our microbiomes. This article suggests that if you eat way too many of them, that may also be a problem. B vitamin issues, which many of us struggle with, can also make us vulnerable...
 

August59

Daughters High School Graduation
Messages
1,617
Location
Upstate SC, USA
I sort of took it as a guide in which I could use to evaluate what foods I can eat, not eat and look at my other foods available to me and keep focusing on developing a diet that consist of vast amount variabilities.

Of course devolping a highly variable diet sets the tone for keeping oxilates, sacilacates, thiols (some I'm forgetting) foods in check. In addition eating for many of the antioxidants and other advantageous foods while keeping your target protein, fats and complex carb levels will surely keep you busy. With all hopes of finding what works best for every individual

I certainly feel like it will be worth it in the future.
 
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Changexpert

Senior Member
Messages
112
Well, oxalates are most damaging to you if you are gut-compromised, if you've taken a lot of antibiotics which can kill off the oxalate-eating bacteria that we generally have in our microbiomes. This article suggests that if you eat way too many of them, that may also be a problem. B vitamin issues, which many of us struggle with, can also make us vulnerable...
Interesting. Is there a way to build oxalate-eating bacteria back up? I've been trying resistance starch for a month, but do not see any improvement yet. Is there a food source or even supplement I can take?
 
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Messages
99
Interesting. Is there a way to build oxalate-eatinb bacteria back up? I've been trying resistance starch for a month, but do not see any improvement yet. Is there a food source or even supplement I can take?

The main bacteria is oxalobacter formigenes, but a probiotic with this bacteria is not available commercially yet. In the meantime, the probiotic VSL#3 has been shown to degrade oxalates in vivo. Managing B vitamins (especially B1 and B6) is also helpful.

Reducing oxalates too suddenly, or taking large amounts of VSL#3, can cause oxalate "dumping" (flare-up) in some people.

There's a oxalates yahoo group here: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Trying_Low_Oxalates and a facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TryingLowOxalates/
 
Messages
9
trawling through this site and the web im aware that oxalates causes joint / muscle pain. but how long does this take to have effect. If I eat a high oxalate food my fingers will ache within minutes. not sure if this is signifying something else, that this is normal or i have more crystals in my joints than the healing crystals stand at a craft fair ;o)
 

Kathevans

Senior Member
Messages
689
Location
Boston, Massachusetts
I lowered my oxalate intake--thinks: regular chard, spinach, daily nuts to keep weight on, dark chocolate, sweet potatoes--pretty drastically from one day to the next last January, so over 8 months ago. My pain levels were very high. BUT, I also was having a terrible time with all those Bs, particularly the MeB-12 and Folate levels. I spent months having daily diarrhea. In retrospect, I think this was not only oxalate dumping, but also a paradoxical folate block, which I have to a much lesser, only rarely extent now that I can (barely!) tolerate 1 mg of B-12 and 400mcg of Folate.

My brother, like you, has a fairly rapid physical response to oxalates. I can only say that keeping my diet in the low-medium range, using calcium, magnesium, lots of B6 (25-35mg p5p daily) and finally being able to tolerate B-12 has reduced my pain a LOT. What I feel now is the damage from 15 years or more of having this disorder, not the drill-bit pain with every move I take.