The link below takes you to a great interview, where Cynthia Thurlow and I talk all things oxalate. Cynthia is a Nurse Practitioner in the US who works with nutritional clients to optimize their health. Cynthia discovered oxalate in her own healing process after emergency appendectomy surgery.
For those who are new to oxalate, there are some key things as context:
- Oxalate is not benevolent. It’s not a nutrient. In sufficient dose, it’s a poison – and it may be affecting you below the threshold of a diagnosis. (That was certainly my experience.)
- You have no need for oxalate. While the human metabolism does produce a small amount of it as a normal by-product, we don’t have any biological use or need for it. For instance, we don’t have any metabolic pathways with oxalate as an input. Oxalate is like what’s leftover in the digestive tract after digesting our food; it is simply a substance to be excreted.
- If you have had any kind of oxalate-based kidney stone, it’s smart to reduce it! While some practitioners may suggest that you reduce calcium (particularly when you have lots of calcium in the urine), why would you reduce calcium (a known nutrient) while retaining a known anti-nutrient which will bind with calcium, setting you up for problems? Let’s hold the anti-nutrient accountable.
You’ll learn much more as Cynthia and I have a lively discussion about oxalate and all things health.