Should I be Concerned about Oxalates?

If you look hard enough, in today’s age you can find someone saying pretty much any kind of food is bad, or is bad for you, even foods like vegetables. This is in spite of much evidence that says vegetables are quite good for you. One of the issues people who demonize vegetables, fruits and other plant foods is the presence of oxalates. 

Oxalates, or oxalic acid, are naturally occurring compounds found in many plants, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes. They play a role in the plant’s metabolism and defense mechanisms but they are known to potentially impact human health when consumed in large amounts. Some of the foods that are particularly high in oxalates include:

– Spinach
– Beets
– Swiss chard
– Rhubarb
– Chocolate
– Nuts, especially almonds
– Most berries, like strawberries and raspberries

The Concern with Oxalates

In the human body, oxalates can bind with minerals like calcium and form crystals, potentially leading to kidney stones. People who are prone to kidney stones, especially calcium oxalate stones, are often advised to limit their intake of high-oxalate foods.

However, for most people, eating a normal amount of foods that contain oxalates shouldn’t pose a problem. It becomes an issue primarily for those with specific health conditions that make them more sensitive to oxalate-rich foods.

While it’s important to be aware of oxalates if you have certain health conditions, many foods that are high in oxalates are also very nutritious and provide important dietary benefits. Thus, eliminating them entirely from the diet is not advisable unless you are getting specific medical advice from your doctor. 

Many of the above mentioned foods contain a wide spectrum of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and other nutrients––some of them anti-fungal. These foods are encouraged on The Kaufmann Diet. 

If you are still concerned about oxalates, cooking can reduce the oxalate content of foods, but it doesn’t completely eliminate them. The extent to which oxalates are reduced depends on the cooking method:

Boiling: This is the most effective method for reducing oxalate content. Oxalates are water-soluble, so when you boil foods that contain them, the oxalates leach into the water. Draining the water after boiling can significantly reduce their levels. For example, boiling spinach can reduce its oxalate content by 30% to 87%.

Steaming:This method is less effective than boiling because the oxalates don’t leach out into the water to the same extent. However, steaming may still reduce oxalate levels to some degree.

Baking, Roasting, and Frying: These methods have minimal impact on the oxalate content of foods. Since there is no water to leach the oxalates into, these cooking methods do not significantly reduce oxalate levels.

If you’re concerned about oxalates, boiling and discarding the cooking water can be a helpful strategy, particularly for high-oxalate foods like spinach, beets, and Swiss chard. However, keep in mind that this can also result in a loss of other water-soluble nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. So, the question becomes, is it really even worth it?

Unless you have specific advice from your doctor, you can skip the fear mongering over oxalates. 

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