The safest, most effective therapies for optimal health!

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by Ellen Landauer

Oxalic Acid Dangers

Oxalic acid is found in ALL plant foods. To achieve optimal health, it is VITAL that we become educated on its dangers.

PHOTO ABOVE: I have a confession to make; I used to eat boatloads of ALL the foods listed on this page!

I drank that super green drink you see above right after photographing it.

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Oxalic Acid: A Quick Food List

For your health, it is important to become aware of oxalic acid content of foods so you can make informed decisions on diet.

The highest are beans, nuts and grains - all plant seeds that use this compound to hold calcium and other minerals for when the seed grows. Next highest is roots and bark, then stems, leaves - and to a lesser extent fruits. However, among leafy vegetables, spinach and kale are so high in oxalate that they should be considered inedible by humans.

Great illustration of oxalic acid crystals in a plant cell. These are raphite (toothpick-shaped) crystals:

https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/1113840/view/calcium-oxalate-crystals-in-plant-tissue-light-micrograph

Greens - Spinach, kale, beet greens, Swiss chard, collard greens, rhubarb and other vegetables are high in oxalic acid. 

'Wild greens' - dandelion, purslane, lambs quarters and other weeds are also loaded with oxalates.

Among root vegetables - beets, cassava, potatoes, yams, parsnips and carrots are high.

Among nuts - almonds, peanuts and cashews rank very high.

Seeds - pumpkin, chia, poppy and hemp seeds are very high.

Beans to avoid - soy, kidney and black beans - though ALL beans are better not eaten.

Fruits - kiwi fruit and starfruit are among fruits extremely high in oxalic acid. Blackberries, raspberries and strawberries are also high.

'Superfoods' - Green tea, astralagus, turmeric and many others.

Meat and dairy contain virtually NO oxalic acid!

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Oxalic Acid:
How it Invades All Body Tissues

Oxalic acid is most HIGHLY attracted to calcium, but also to other minerals. When we eat foods high in oxalic acid, this compound combines with calcium and other minerals in our gut. Oxalic acid also is absorbed into the bloodstream directly from stomach and gut. It combines with calcium and other minerals to form crystals in our bloodstream - which then distributes these crystals throughout all the tissues of the body.

Oxalate crystals are of two kinds. One kind is microscopic and the other kind is nanocrystals so small that even an electron microscope is unlikely to detect them. These crystals are like tiny shards of glass, razor sharp - and they cut us up inside - causing lesions in any tissue with which they come in contact.

Because high oxalate in your bloodstream leads to heart arrythmias and kidney damage, your body stores oxalic acid crystals in bones, nerves, teeth, skin etc. to protect heart and kidneys.

Oxalate crystals cause renal damage; they are neurotoxic; they overstimulate the immune system, upset the GI tract, deplete glutathione, and corrode connective tissue.

With oxalate crystals growing and stored throughout the body, muscles start aching, eyes, ears, mouth, and throat can burn, and stones form in the kidneys. Fibromyalgia, calcium depletion, vulva sores and pain are just a few problems often associated with oxalate crystals. Skin rashes / weakness / rapid aging can occur as well. In the eyes, they can cause vision loss. (1)

Oxalate crystals can be deposited ANYWHERE in our bodies - joints, skin, bones, cartilage, organs, brain, glands. They have been cited as causing hypothyroidism when they lodge in and destroy thyroid tissue. Oxalic acid crystals can cause arthritis (both osteo and rheumatiod), osteopenia when calcium oxalate crystals invade bones, causing skeletal weakness; immune issues when it invades bone marrow and destroys the blood cells being manufactured there. They can even get into teeth (teeth are alive and take on what the bloodstream brings them). In teeth they can cause weakening as well.

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PHOTO BELOW: Foods I no longer eat - except an occasional bit of olive oil on my raw meat dinners.

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Oxalic Acid Crystals:
Kidney Damage

A big concern is the impact on your kidneys.

80% of kidney stones are calcium oxalate crystals.

'Dietary restriction of oxalate intake has been used as therapy to reduce the risk of recurrence of calcium oxalate kidney stones.' (2)

Eating lots of foods high in oxalic acid has actually been shown in many instances to cause kidney failure - extremely serious - some people even had to go on dialysis! (3), (4)

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Oxalic Acid Crystals:
Nerve Damage

Oxalic acid crystals also get stored in brain and nervous system, causing nerve damage. They interfere with neurotransmitters, nerve conduction, and have been implicated in mood disorders and dementia.

'Proposed mechanisms of nerve damage include disruption of axonal transport due to crystal deposition, toxic effect of oxalate, or nerve ischemia related to vessel occlusion from oxalate crystal deposition.' (5)

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Oxalic Acid
and Heavy Metal Toxicity

Oxalic acid ALSO will bind to mercury, lead and other toxic metals. BUT - unlike a chelator which will carry the toxins out, the oxalate crystals formed from toxic metals are stored IN the body.

Eating foods high in oxalic acid will keep you from detoxing from mercury, lead, etc. and in fact will make you MORE toxic because the crystals formed get sequestered in more and more of your body tissues.

REFERENCES:

(1) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/article-abstract/2454943
'Retinal Flecks in Primary Hyperoxaluria'
Cagri G. Besirli, MD, PhD1
Author Affiliations: JAMA Ophthalmol. 2015;133(10):e151532. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2015.1532

(2) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8335871/
Effect of dietary oxalate and calcium on urinary oxalate and risk of formation of calcium oxalate kidney stones

(3) https://kidney360.asnjournals.org/content/1/7/716

(4) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4714167/
'Peanut-Induced acute oxalate nephropathy with acute kidney injury'

(5) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4577279/

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Ellen Landauer is an expert with over 40 years in-depth study and experience of the safe and effective use of nutritional supplements, botanical extracts and detoxification methods.

She is Certified as an Advanced Practitioner of Structural Integration body therapy developed by Dr. Ida P. Rolf - also known as Rolfing. This hands-on therapy is the deepest, most comprehensive body alignment therapy. 

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Ellen Landauer is also a  PUBLISHED AUTHOR!

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To learn more about Ellen Landauer, see her detailed bio HERE

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