Comments on: What is Oxalate?

By: Why Some People Accumulate High Levels of Oxalate – Low Oxalate Info

Why Some People Accumulate High Levels of Oxalate – Low Oxalate Info — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:22:26 +0000

[…] forming insoluble oxalate salts which are not as easily absorbed through the intestinal wall (see What is Oxalate? for more information about oxalic acid and insoluble oxalate). This is why most low oxalate […]

By: Dario Dinatale

Dario Dinatale — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 06:04:44 +0000

Regards for all your efforts that you have put in this. Very interesting information. “One cool judgment is worth a dozen hasty councils. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat.” by Woodrow Wilson.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 01:29:16 +0000

Two environmental triggers that seem to be quite common are gluten and certain antibiotics. Both can contribute to high oxalate levels in the blood (and eventual oxalate-related symptoms) by impairing gut function.

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 05:03:37 +0000

Thank you, this is helpful for me to consider.
Any evidence (that you know of thus far in your research) of particular environmental triggers that affect oxalates? We live in an area where I probably need to really take this into consideration (high air pollution being just one of those environmental issues).

By: Heidi

Heidi — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:43:37 +0000

I plan to do some posts about the genetic link later after I do some more research myself, but like most diseases it seems that there is a genetic connection. The VP Foundation newsletters and the Trying Oxalates Yahoo Group is full of anecdotal stories of people with oxalate-related symptoms who have family members with oxalate-related symptoms. What really surprises me is the number of parents who have multiple children with oxalate-related symptoms, who didn’t realize they also could benefit from a low oxalate diet until they went on one by default with their children and realized that some old injury got better or some unexplained bladder pain cleared up. Of course, this doesn’t mean that just because you have a problem that your children will, too. I think like with most disease, both a genetic predisposition and an environmental trigger must be present. Your kids may not have inherited the predisposition and if they did, they may never have a severe enough environmental trigger to cause disease. That’s my hope for my own children who so far seem to be doing very well on a medium oxalate diet.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:18:58 +0000

I am so glad to find your site! Thank you!
Do you know what part genetics plays in all this? If I have had issues with high oxalate foods (which I do, so following a low oxalate diet now) are my children also genetically predisposed to such problems?

By: Heidi

Heidi — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:22:29 +0000

Thanks, Karla! That means a lot coming from you.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:21:46 +0000

Thanks, Michelle. I will get to the evils it commits within the human body soon! Isn’t that picture beautiful? I found another one that I want to frame and put up in my house. It’s amazing that something so beautiful can cause so much harm.
Heidi

By: Karla

Karla — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 21:35:19 +0000

This is fantastic. You’ve made it very easy to understand!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:39:07 +0000

Great article! Isn’t that just an amazingly popular picture of oxalate crystals (I used it here: http://lowoxalatedieting.com/the-low-oxalate-diet-it-isnt-easy/) LOL. Gotta love Wikimedia Commons!

Your approach to the subject is far less biased than mine…I tend to always view it through the lens of the evils it commits within the human body, rather than the useful role it undoubtedly plays for the plants which produce it. Thanks for presenting a bit of the other side of the coin!