Dietary Oxalates: Good or Bad? What’s the science behind it all

Have you heard talk about dietary oxalates and wondered if you should avoid them?Or maybe you’ve learned about kidney stone risk and you want to play it safe…Here is the science and everything you need to know! The Facts:Dietary Oxalate Intake Isn’t the Same as Produced OxalateIf you read only the first 3 bullet points – you might make the assumption that the intake of dietary oxalates in the diet will lead to the development of calcium oxalate stones.This would be what we call logical fallacy – combining two ideas that seem to be true but actually aren’t!This argument is often made on blogs and it often leads to unnecessary amounts of fear and restrictions. Half of the oxalate found in urine is actually produced by the body rather than absorbed from food so low oxalate diets are not typically recommended anymore even for those with kidney stones (1, 2).There are scenarios when urologists may recommend a low oxalate diet but this only for patients who have high levels of oxalate in their urine (3, 4).What are the Risk Factors for Developing Calcium Oxalate StonesOne of the biggest risk factors for developing kidney stones is dehydration. We know those of […]