Supplements and Medications to Avoid on the Low Oxalate Diet

calcium oxalate foods
source: drsarahbrewer

If you are looking for how to flush oxalates from body, you may also want to know what foods could increase the pain of your kidney stones, gout or fibromyalgia because of their high oxalate content, to avoid them.

Top on that, there are supplements you may totally want to keep off for the same reason, or opt for low oxalate fiber supplements.

Knowing what the exact content of oxalates in a diet supplement is what makes it possible to know whether it’s worth continuing with it or not (think of fish oil oxalates).

It also helps when one is designing recipes that are supposed to promote a low oxalate diet.

Important Components which May Cause Oxalate Production to Raise to Serious Levels

calcium oxalate foods

Source: eatright

Oxalate as a compound will always be present in the body no matter what one does to eliminate them. Over 90 percent of vegetables, fruits and a small percent of dairy products we use on daily basis will contain oxalates.

What may vary is the concentration of the compound in each food type. A section of researchers thought there is nothing like fish oil oxalates but that’s not true.

Fish lives in water and eats herbs as their main food. The major source of oxalate is herbs and plants so there is no way fish cannot have oxalate compounds.

The reason why plants literally must have oxalates is because it’s the protective gear that keeps bugs from consuming them. That is, oxalates have a negative effect on bug’s experience when they are eating the plant, which makes them disregard the plant as food after a few bites.

For the substances that could result in excessive oxalate production, we have:

Polyethylene Glycol PEG (Miralax and Gycolax “to be particular”)

In themselves, these above-mentioned substances won’t trigger an increase of the atomic compound, what happens is that microbes in the body would convert the substance into oxalate.

There are no clinical means to test this but at a practical level, an individual would know this has happened when symptoms sprout soon after they have consistently used foods rich in Miralax, Gycolax or PEG (Polyethylene Glycol).

A simple scanning on various supplements and you will be astonished at the number of supplements which have PEG as one of their key components.

Not that the compound should be a complete no in the medication or supplement, what is alarming is the amount in the ingredient. Even when the amount is considered insignificant or small in any supplement, it needs to be at the levels that would not impact health on the negative.

To always be on the safer side people need to read labels before including a supplement into your diet. If unsure whether the concentration is safe, ask your doctor. Also inquire to know how that may affect your oxalate as related to the condition you could be battling (kidney stone, fibromyalgia, gout or the rest.)

Vitamin C

Any supplements claiming to be high in Vitamin C most likely get the compound (oxalate) from vegetables or fruits. And when battling oxalate effects, one may want to avoid specific vitamins in and this case Vitamin C (but with clinical advice).

The reason is that Vitamins metabolize to oxalate with ease. However, if the symptoms pointing to oxalate instability may not show up immediately, or even after a day, it may show up two or three weeks later depending on your gut health is.

It is therefore advisable to list the different ways you give your body Vitamins. If you have to stick to supplements, better avoid other sources like direct consumption of foods that are rich in oxalate atoms. Doctors recommend Vitamin C intake of stickily below 250mg a day. Something you can regulate if you do it on diet alone.

Absorption of Substances in the Glare of Low Oxalate Diets

Fish Oil Oxalate: As oxalate in itself is not the poison it sounds to be. The problem is when it is absorbed into the blood system. So in this case, folks with poor fat digestion issues (like a leaky gut to be precise) may have more of the oxalate compounds absorbed in their system.

However, when everything is working fine and as required, the body has ways to eliminate or balance the number of oxalates to safer levels.

Research on this topic recommends users to try not having the fish oil for say, 3 days, then use the same for three days and see what happens to their symptoms.

Sometimes that’s the only way individuals can master the precise behavior of their body in relation to oxalate levels. You are lucky if your doctor has ever been a victim of kidney stones and they by experience can tell how to balance oxalate levels.

Iron: Most victims battling calcium oxalate levels complications may see iron as helpful in their diet at first. However, as time goes they may begin to experience the same old symptoms. The idea is, even this component will need limits with regard to consumption levels. Some members of the Low Oxalate Group at Yahoo have recommended on this. Again, a good way to know what exactly works for you is simply using the iron-rich supplement you may have for some time then avoid it for the equal amount of time to see how their symptoms respond.

Nystatin: This is an antibiotic and antifungal created from soil fungi actinomycetes. While it may be extremely useful, an excess of it may result in a consistency of leaky guts because of its effect on the membrane around tight intersections of the digestive tract.

Other medication may trigger concern if you are keeping a low oxalate diet, so it’s good that you consult with your doctor.

Supplements high in oxalates

Populating up the whole list on this might not be the best idea, what I’d advise in relation to the research I have conducted before jotting down this post is that, deal with what concerns you. As in, from the list of supplements or medicines with an oxalate asterisk, see if what you are using is marked and follow through to know what to do. If that’s too much you have your doctor to ask, but if you have time a good place to begin is from the Yahoo group that talks about Tried Low Oxalate Diets.

Top on that, you may want to follow up if the supplements prescribed to you or recommended for your use has ingredients like spinach, sweet potatoes or beetroot powder. Ideally, it doesn’t mean you flush the substance down the latrine, what it simply means is, raise concern and see if the symptoms become extensive.

It’s also smarter to involve your food nutritionist so that you don’t end plugged into low oxalate symptoms, because sometimes the contents are so minimal that they shouldn’t be a cause for concern. What we are trying to evade is cases of high oxalate ingredients or constituents that could cause you harm.

If you have to stick to a low oxalate diet or medication, it also pays to know that the supplements may vary with diet. Some people may have to say goodbye to their supplementing programs either gradually or immediately (that is if they just began.) This may as well include anti-yeast supplements. Depending on a person, some people have their gut heal faster than they can safely opt out of their gastrointestinal medications but this has to come from their specialist.

Can You Monitor your Low Oxalate Diet?

Sure you can, you don’t have to have your specialist around every day or keep up with online resources to be safe. Dealing with oxalate-related problems like leaky gut or kidney stones can be learned from experience.

That is, follow up with your symptoms to know what foods, supplements or medications seem to spike the bad graph. Two weeks of close observation can be a quality time to pass judgments about what to avoid, what to reduce, and what to report to your specialist.

The idea here is you have a pen and paper to write what your intakes outside and inside the (low oxalate diet) are, day by day, for the specific amount of time you’ve planned (but shouldn’t be beyond one month). From the list, you can now pick what foods or substances to test with the “use for 3-day use rule” to be able to know the things to really get concerned and those that are not.

How Many People Suffer From Oxalate Problems?    

A tight question that may be, but mark you, most folks don’t even know they have oxalate issues until their doctor suspects. Reason being most oxalate symptoms are shared across other diseases and it may take a specialist to point out the differentiating symptoms. In a rough estimation, the oxalate instability seems to affect a few, about 100,000 or more American. This is talking of the number of people that have had a diagnosis of the same.

Testing for the disease could be by means of urine sample analysis, to see the level of oxalate compounds in it. Research says this works for most patients but for others, the urine test may show low oxalate against the blood sample, which could show higher levels of it. Why the difference?  Could be because of the kidney, which is supposed to detox the body, was not able to wash away or excrete the compound.

Problems in the digestive tract could have caused improper absorption of unintended substances oxalate included, which means the compound could become highly concentrated in blood but low in excretes. And that’s ideally where oxalate-related symptoms become elaborate.

What benefits come with Low Oxalate Diet Like Fish Oil Oxalate and the Rest?

On average a normal healthy adult who is also careful to keep a low oxalate diet takes in 250 to 310mg of oxalate in their daily food intake, that’s if the individual throws something into their mouth up to 5 times within a 24 hours period.

However, if he or she is supposed to strictly stick to low oxalate intake, the intake should be capped within 100 to 150mg as the daily level of the compound in the diet. So it means instead of having a miso soup five times, which will give your body over 500mg of oxalate, have half the serving only once a day.

The Good in Sticking to a Low Oxalate Diet

  • It promotes healthy kidneys
  • Promotes the health of the urinary tract and all other organs in picture
  • It enhances the absorption of other important nutrients like calcium
  • Keeps you alert to always go for healthy nutrition choices

What Ways Can You Reduce Oxalate Levels in All Meals

There is a debate on whether cooking food reduces oxalate compounds, and it’s clear that the weight seems to fall on the “yes it does” side. Heat always breaks down the atomic bonds of compounds, top on that, oxalate-sensitive people have recorded improvements after eating cooked food. Other specialists also highly recommend just slashing off the foods rich in the compound as the best options to reduce oxalate levels in your meals.

However, boiling and decanting away the water in oxalate-rich foods seem to rake more votes than the above two options. During the high heat, the atoms loose from, say spinach and are deposited into the water so you can easily wash them away. This might come in handy with having to first cut the raw food into small pieces before the boiling process. For the like of potatoes, unpeel then divide them into a smaller piece to ensure the heat penetrates to all corners.

You can also use Nephure’s Oxalate Reducing Enzyme to disintegrate or lower the levels of the atomic compound in oxalates. What is that? It is a product use by oxalate dieters. It is a tasteless food ingredient primarily for reducing the level of oxalate in specific beverages and foods. The user will need to mix a packet of the Enzyme to their favorite beverage then take it before having their main meal.

When to Cease the Low Oxalate Diet or Supplements

This will depend solely on the present state and symptoms on your body. A section of people, like one presenting her case on a YouTube channel, is very sensitive to oxalate levels. She had to stick to her diet. A slight variation saw her become very sick with unimaginable mood fluctuations.

In essence, this means your doctor needs to be involved and closely monitor in case you are planning to kick away a low oxalate diet. But why should you if it’s working good for you?

I have done an in-depth research on oxalates, things like the content of oxalates in fish (also fish oil oxalates,) vegetable oxalates and serial oxalates and others, and think I have some concrete information to share.

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