What Causes Problems With Oxalate?
Elevated levels of oxalate in the body can cause pain, inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, kidney stones, and more.
Most people focus on oxalates from dietary intake, but most oxalate in the body is produced by the body itself, and some people produce more than others.
Oxalates can also be produced in the body by fungal organisms.
Here are some of the likely contributors to oxalate formation in the body:
- Deficiencies of vitamins B1, B2, B3, and B6
- Genetic variants in the genes like AGXT, DAO, LDH, HGGA1, GRHPR
- Growth of fungal organisms in the body that produce oxalate
- High intake and conversion of substances that can convert to oxalate in the body, such as hydroxyproline and/or glycine (e.g. from collagen or gelatin), tryptophan, phenylalanine, aspartic acid, Aspratame (a combination of phenylalanine and aspartic acid), tyrosine, threonine, asparagine, creatine, purines, glucose, other carbohydrates
Here are possible causes of elevated oxalate absorption from dietary sources like spinach and beets:
- Intestinal hyperpermeability (leaky gut)
- Low dietary calcium (calcium binds to oxalates in the gut so that they are not absorbed)
- Fat maldigestion, which causes fats to bind to calcium, making it unavailable to bind to oxalates to prevent their absorption
Whether oxalate in the body forms calcium oxalate kidney stones depends mainly on the following factors:
- Dehydration (increases the likelihood of stone formation)
- Kidney dysfunction / disease
- Low sulfate in the kidneys (reduces kidney's ability to excrete oxalate)
- Oxidative stress in the kidneys (e.g. due to low levels of antioxidants like vitamins C and E in the kidneys)
Although vitamin C can be converted to oxalate, it seems more likely that vitamin C actually reduces the risk of oxalate stone formation.
One researcher asserted that his research indicated that vitamin C deficiency was the basic factor initating calcium oxalate crystal / stone formation anywhere in the body.
All published case reports connecting vitamin C administration with kidney stones occurred in the presence of numerous other factors that predispose to kidney stone formation (mainly pre-existing kidney disease).
So it does not make sense to blame the vitamin C as the sole cause of the stone formation in these cases.
When it comes to direct dietary sources of oxalate, like high-oxalate plant foods, the research suggests that reducing dietary oxalate intake makes little or no difference in the formation of kidney stones.
In a study of patients with unexplained recurrent calcium oxalate kidney stones, a diet w
ith high amounts of water, adequate calcium, and low amounts of sodium worked better at reducing the urinary levels of oxalate than a low-oxalate diet.
Despite the scarcity of scientific evidence linking dietary oxalates to elevated oxalate in the body, many people report that they experience symptoms from high-oxalate foods and feel better when they avoid high oxalate foods.
This this may not actually be due to oxalates and may in fact be due to
substances that frequently accompany oxalates, such as
histamines and salicylates.
Salicylates are a type of polyphenol found in many healthy foods, but people that do not process polyphenols well can exhibit salicylate sensitivity.
This can be due to low levels of sulfate, which is needed to add sulfate to phenols to prepare them for excretion.
Low levels of sulfate can be due to genetic variants in the
SUOX gene that codes for sulfite oxidase, an enzyme that forms sulfate.
It can also be due to
low levels of the mineral molybdenum, which is the cofactor for the sulfite oxidase enzyme.
Low levels of exposure to sunlight can also cause low levels of sulfate since sulfate is formed in the skin upon exposure to sunlight.
In addition to impairing the body's ability to excrete phenols, insufficient levels of sulfate can also impair the kidneys' ability to excrete oxalate in urine.
Despite all of this, I am not saying that dietary oxalates are never the cause of symptoms. But to the extent that oxalates are a cause of symptoms, it is probably due to predisposing factors like those described above, not just the dietary intake of oxalates.
If you would like to sort out dietary issues like oxalates, histamines, salicylates, digestive health, etc, here are some steps you can take:
- Examine your DNA for variants that may predispose you to elevated levls of oxalate. I recommend SelfDecode for testing. Use discount code REGENERATION to save 10%. If you already have data, I can help you interpret it.
- Assess your B vitamin nutritional status with standard blood and/or a urine organic acid test.
- Test for intestinal hyperpermeability.
- Talk to me about the Bio-Individual Blueprint program.
The Bio-Individual Blueprint program assesses what is going on in your body through the lens of your bio-individuality, using lab tests, bioenergetic testing, detailed online assessments, and more.
Then it guides you through a customized sequence of processes to address root causes and improve your energy, sleep, digestion, detoxification, hormone production and balance, and more.