With Cronometer, you can track up to 84 different nutrients, which is why so may of our users come to us in the first place. We love letting you dive deeper into your nutrient intake and today we’re here to tell you how you can track dietary oxalate.
What Is An Oxalate?
Oxalic acid or oxalate is made naturally in our body and is also found in some of the foods we eat, including fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts. This compound can be found free or bound in our diet. When it is free, it can bind to minerals in our foods (usually calcium but could bind others like iron, sodium, potassium or magnesium). Once they are bound together, they are not absorbed and instead pass through your digestive tract. This could reduce the amount of some essential minerals you absorb from meals with high levels of oxalate.
Free oxalate can be absorbed into your body. While being processed for removal in your kidneys, it can bind with calcium forming a crystal that can lead to kidney stones. This risk is increased for those that have had kidney stones in the past.
How To Track Oxalate In Cronometer
On the mobile app, tap More > Targets > Nutrient Targets > General, scroll down to Oxalate and toggle on “visible”.
In the desktop app, click More > Profile + Targets and scroll to Nutrient Targets and toggle on “visible” for Oxalate.
Oxalate will now show up on your Daily Report so you can keep an eye on your intake. You can also add this to one of your highlighted nutrients so it will appear on your Diary Header.
Minimizing Your Oxalate Intake
Oxalate is water soluble, so methods like soaking, boiling and steaming can remove some of the compound content, as well as cutting the food beforehand to expose more surface area for losses to happen. Food prep methods that increase oxalate level in food include roasting, grilling and baking.
Pairing high oxalate foods with high calcium foods can offset the absorption. Eating 300-400 mg calcium in a meal that is high in oxalate is recommended. Aim for a calcium:oxalate ratio of 4:3 and above, in other words get a little more calcium than oxalate in a meal.
Upgrading to Cronometer Gold gives you access to our nutrient ratios, which include a calcium:oxalate ratio, allowing you to easily view your ratio on the Daily Report.
Outside of meals particularly high in oxalate, meeting your Recommended Daily Allowance for calcium is likely enough to offset negative effects of oxalates in your diet (1000-1200 mg calcium per day for adults).
Foods High In Oxalate
- Spinach
- Chard
- Rhubarb
- Almonds
- Brazil nuts
- Walnuts
- Brown beans
- Black beans
- Soy
