Oxalates are found in plant based foods in the form of sharp crystals. Their purpose is to deter insects from eating the plants by tearing up their teeth. In humans there is no deterrent effect as the crystals are too small to cause discomfort in the mouth.
In most healthy people oxalates are broken down by the gut flora or pass straight through the gut without being absorbed into the body. However, where there is a leaky gut dietary oxalate will be absorbed, jumping from 1-2% to <50%.
The body also makes oxalate of its own, especially when there is an enzyme imbalance caused by genetic factors or deficiencies in enzyme building vitamin B6, magnesium or thiamine.
Oxalate can also be generated when somebody is getting high doses of vitamin C or high levels of fructose.
Lactobacillus acidophilus deprived of its usual food, may be able to “eat” oxalate, but too much oxalate in its diet may kill it off. This may explain why certain people have great difficulty colonizing lactobacillus acidophilus, despite constant use of probiotics containing it.
Symptoms of oxalate consumption include: -
Burning mouth, eyes, ears nose and throat Digestive upset Stomach pain Fatigue Painful joints Diarrhea Constipation Bloating Gas Breathing & asthma symptoms Mucus production Hives Urinary pain, blood in urine, foul smelling urine. Irritation of genitalia Slowed digestion High oxalate foods also lead to inflammation and histamine release.
A low oxalate diet is generally defined as 50mg a day.
posted
The most accurate and comprehensive list of oxalate counts is available on the Facebook group "Trying Low Oxalates."
Susan Owens headed up the research on oxalates and is known as the leading expert in this field. She knows far more than any doctor about how oxalates can negatively affect us.
PS.. If you've ever had rounds of fluoroquinolones, you probably will have trouble processing oxalates. Cipro, Levaquin and their cousins kill off the bacteria that is NEEDED for handling oxalates.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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TX Lyme Mom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3162
posted
Lymetoo, Your first message in this topic is excellent. I would dearly love to see a link to your resource/s for this fine summary. (Your second message is good too, but you already told us where to look to find that info.)
I'd like to be able to follow up on this, for benefit of a distant family member, so any link/s to your resources would prove very helpful to me by saving me some valuable time by not to start from scratch in researching this topic further. TIA.
BTW, I wonder if there are any probiotics on the market to replace these special bacteria which process oxalates? I'm guessing probably not though, or else we would have heard about them by now.
I'm guessing that such beneficial bacteria are probably anaerobic and would therefore be more difficult to manufacture than aerobic bacteria, as well being more difficult to package and to distribute.
Thanks for researching and for posting this important topic, TooToo.
Posts: 4563 | From TX | Registered: Sep 2002
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