I posted this as a response, but i thought it needed a separate post.
A word of caution about cinnamon, turmeric, and many of our healthy foods. I was taking cinnamon in my breakfast and turmeric supplements, plus lots of leafy greens, chia pudding, almond butter and almond and cashew yogurt, amaranth, etc..and my finger joints were getting increasingly inflamed. And i was wondering why i was getting some little nodules on some finger joints.I finally discovered by accident, that my diet was very high in oxalates. Like, REALLY high. My staples were some of the highest oxalate foods! Which are mostly known as a cause of kidney stones, but can affect the whole body, including causing osteoporosis and lower back pain.
If you've had kidney stones, or joint inflammation, or just want to dive down one more rabbit hole, I found the book "Toxic Superfoods" useful. Many people clear oxalates just fine, but others not so much. Anyway, I stopped cinnamon, turmeric, and other very high oxalate foods. Inflammation down a bit, but apparently the little monsters stay in your system for a long time.
There's some speculation in the carnivore diet world, that some people feel better on this diet because it essentially eliminates oxalates. Not that I'm going that route.....
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Apparently its hard to put a number on any specific food item, since oxalate content varies by source, serving size, specific plant type (ie lacinto Kale has low oxalates, curly Kale is high...). The important thing is total intake, and nowadays in general we think plants are healthy and red meat and dairy aren't, at least for PD. A vegan or vegetarian diet is difficult to do without getting a lot of oxalates.
It's really an individual situation. I'm not suggesting cinnamon and turmeric aren't healthy in many ways and fir many people, but perhaps not for an oxalate sensitive person, at high doses.
Ceylon cinnamon (Simply Organic Brand) was tested by the VP Foundation in Fall 2016 and found still to be very high in oxalate: 1180 mg per 100g (or about 31 mg in a teaspoon). Regular cinnamon is considerably higher (1675 mg per 100g, or about 40 mg in a teaspoon). Neither would appear to be a good choice
This is one the most interesting posts. I really see the complexity with diet, water intake, genetic makeup, individual body processing and unique exercise choices. Diet is a real complex topic but so important to health.
I was doing a "healthy" organic predominantly plant keto diet and my chronic pain was epic. When I changed to an "unhealthy" carnivore diet, my pain was almost totally eliminated. Seems that some of us are sensitive to oxalates, phylates, lectins, tannin, gluten etc whereas apparently the least inflammatory food is beef. Sorry vegans.
Apologize to the cows and the planet. Vegans don't necessarily take offense at people's eating habits. Most often it's the process by which it lands on the plate.
Agreed. Meat is tragic. I still eat beef, but recently I learned I can get most of the lectins out of potatoes, beans, and tomatoes by pressure cooking them. This has led to my getting a pressure cooker and eating more potatoes and more black beans and less meat.
One summer, long ago, I had a bumper crop of spinach. Wow, the kidney stones hurt (but did I go to a doctor?? No.) It wasn't till years later I put together the causality.
One tip - hydrate in order to flush the ingested oxalic acid (from spinach, curly kale, etc) from your system. This helps prevent the oxalic acid from precipitating into those nasty spiky pebbles. Ouch! It also can help prevent osteoporosis since oxalic acid binds with calcium.
A comparison of oxalate content (mg/100 g FW) measured by HPLC and spectrophotometry in the research below revealed that spinach, New Zealand spinach, rhubarb, Swiss chard, taro leaves, sorrel, soybean, amaranth, parsley, and licorice have high levels of oxalates and can be considered high-oxalate foods, especially some green leafy vegetables.
On the other hand, fruits (except for star fruit, elderberry, and dried fig), cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, kale, pumpkin, chickpeas, lentils, cowpea, arugula, cress, garlic, and green onion can be classified as low-oxalate foods. Certain cooking techniques, such as boiling, steaming, soaking, and processing with calcium sources, can help reduce oxalate, particularly soluble oxalate, in foods.
Table 5 👈 shows the very extensive list that can be very useful in addition to Bolt's list of herbs. Only from herbs you usually use teaspoons and not 100 grams or more as with fruits and vegetables! "Toxic Superfood ." may be a catchy marketing gimmick, but it's actually a good idea to vary your spinach smoothie.
The relationship between dietary oxalate, calcium oxalate, and the risk of kidney stones is complex, influenced by factors such as cooking techniques, calcium intake, endogenously produced oxalate, and gastrointestinal health. Foods containing oxalates, such as fruits and vegetables, also contain beneficial compounds that may outweigh any potential negative effects on health. Systemic oxalosis, a condition characterized by the accumulation of oxalate in the body, appears to be more related to underlying pathological conditions like primary hyperoxaluria rather than dietary oxalate intake. Therefore, regular consumption of high-oxalate foods as part of a balanced and varied diet is generally not a health concern for healthy individuals, as long as the daily oxalate intake remains between 50-200 mg/day. However, for individuals prone to kidney stone formation, dietary modifications to limit high-oxalate foods to less than 40-50 mg oxalate/day are recommended to prevent potential health risks in these cases.
Oxalate in Foods: Extraction Conditions, Analytical Methods, Occurrence, and Health Implications
Yes, all true. This was not meant to frighten, but a word of caution. If you eat nuts, nut butters, leafy greens, beans, whole grains and seeds, like chia and amaranth, its easy to go WAY over that 50-200 mg per day. In my effort to reduce meat, I did that, and paid a price, eating almond yogurt, milk and butter, two kiwis per day for constipation, amaranth, chia puddings, a tsp of cinnamon (40 mg oxalates per tsp), lots of leafy greens...I may not even be overly sensitive, but with that quantity of oxalates, harm was probable, not just possible.
Most "healthy" people can tolerate this, but gastrointestinal health, which many of us struggle with, is an important factor. More of the oxalate bound to minerals, especially calcium, but also other minerals, can cause mineral deficiency, as well as kidney stones, especially in men (I'm not a man), is absorbed because of slow transit.
Your list looks really useful! Thanks! If you look at various lists of oxalate content, they can be contradictory and confusing. Sally Norton's lists which can be downloaded from her website, are also useful.
Most lists don't include portion size, and cooking method...which influence oxalate content. If you eat large quantities of high oxalate foods, or eat them daily, or have had kidney stones, joint swelling, osteoporosis, or blood tests show mineral deficiencies, it might be worthwhile to take a look at this.
To simplify, probably enough to eliminate any clearly high oxalate foods you eat daily or frequently, and try to reduce the frequency of others. Life is complicated enough managing meds, food and exercise!
Regarding herbs and spices, I think the ones we use to flavor food aren't a problem, but the ones we may take as supplements could be, as the quantity is larger...
You realy don't frighten me and it is important to warn about excessive oxalate. This can be an eye-opener, especially for people with digestive issues. It also reaffirms the importance of having a varied diet. I noticed significant variations in the information provided by different sources online, but this comprehensive research provides perhaps more guidance.
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