MAGNIFICENT MERCOLA: How Oxalates Can Wreck Your Health
Story at-a-glance
- Oxalic acid is a naturally occurring toxic, corrosive acid. When the oxalic acid has minerals attached to it, it's called oxalate, which acts as a mineral chelator
- Oxalate forms crystals that your body has a limited capacity to process. Calcium oxalate, for example, which is oxalic acid with calcium attached, form into painful kidney stones
- Unlike some other food-related toxins, oxalate cannot be removed by cooking, soaking or fermenting the food. You also cannot simply take a mineral supplement to address the depletion oxalates causes
- The top three "superfoods" that are very high in oxalate and may cause trouble are spinach, Swiss chard and beet greens. Another high-oxalate food is almonds, which you can easily "overdose" on if you're eating bread made with almond flour or drinking almond milk, or if you're on a keto or paleo diet, as they both tend to rely heavily on almonds. Dark chocolate is another food that scores high for oxalates
- Oxalate damages cellular membranes causing excess calcium to flood the cell, resulting in accelerated cell death and other metabolic problems that contribute to chronic disease and ill health