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Phytates + Oxalates + Calcium = Confusion
I'm so glad to find this support group.
My recent Dexa says I'm a whisker away from osteoporosis (the curve has taken a downward curve every 2 years since menopause).
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Based on a deep dive into online info, it looks like I probably hastened that downward decline because I didn't KNOW about phytates, oxalates, and how they bind to calcium in foods.
I'm a healthy, active vegetarian and for decades have subsisted on beans, dairy, lots of greens (esp. spinach in salads--it has calcium in it!) and other vegetables, fruits, my own whole wheat bread, whole grain pastas, oats, and oat bran. Not knowing any better, I also took a calcium citrate AND a magnesium supplement with meals. And I put chia seeds and/or ground flax seeds in my daily yogurt. It seems that I've been doing the opposite of what I should have been doing for calcium absorption, and I am trying to educate myself.
Some of my rabbit hole questions:
1/ Many foods that are considered to be a calcium-rich source (like beans, nuts and seeds, spinach) ALSO have enough phytates and oxalates to be said to interfere with calcium absorption:
- how can such foods be considered a calcium source if their phytates and oxalates bind to calcium and stop its absorption?
- do they combine with their own calcium AND the calcium in the dairy it's served with?
2/ I know that soaking dried beans reduces the phytates/oxalates but we use canned beans; I cannot find info on whether the process of canning them reduces the anti-nutrients.
Has anyone found a reliable source for info for all this?
Thanks!
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Cooking spinach greatly increases the amount of calcium you can absorb because cooking breaks down oxalates. So, you can consider spinach as a potential source of calcium. If not cooked, then I wouldn't even bother unless you're using spinach for iron.
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3 Reactions@njx58
Makes sense--gotta cook the spinach, replace it in salads with a different green. Too bad that heat alone doesn't reduce the oxalates. According to a source (nutri.it.com), the best way is to boil and discard the water (but then you lose most of the vitamins), or blanching.
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1 ReactionAs a vegetarian here, all my life. After learning about oxalates and bone health, I have eliminated all sources of high oxalate foods. I'm no longer eating chickpeas, spinach, beets, almonds. It doesn't matter how you prepare it. It contains oxalates. I have increased my calcium and protein intake with Soy milk. All these years, I didn't realize how important protein is for bone health. Also, being veggie, I need to increase my protein intake by 20% over meat protein. plant protein does absorb as much as meat protein.I increased my plant protein to 80-100 grams a day is a challenge that work at.
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4 ReactionsThanks for your input.
Looks like I need to add "add more protein" to my bone-strengthening agenda.
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1 ReactionI need help understanding how to manage calcium absorption for my high-fiber vegetarian diet because it seems that I've been pairing all the wrong foods with my calcium sources for decades and my Dexa scans show that downward curve :/
1/ Does eating a food with phytates and/or oxalates along with a calcium food source mean ALL the calcium is taken out of circulation for that meal? Or just SOME of it, so that a person could add more yogurt, milk, or even a calcium and K2 supplement to counteract some of that binding process?
2/ How long after a phytate/oxalate meal can I eat a calcium source without them meeting up later in my gut and binding together after all that planning? Vice-versa: how long after a calcium-rich meal can I eat something we know is high in phytates and/or oxalates?
I stay away from spinach and almonds and anything that interferes with calcium absorption
@nannygoat5
Do you stay away from them all the time or just when you're eating something you know has calcium?
Always.
All these diet recommendations are interesting…the problem for me is having both mild OP and kidney issues (mild)…i don’t want those to get worse, but the dietary needs of these conditions are conflicting…to say nothing of the need to stay NED after CRC, which has its own dietary concerns… a person can get crazed over test #s and all these diet details….