Eat leafy greens with lots of butter
Here’s a health tip; Eat Leafy Greens with Lots of Butter! It’s a legitimate health tip that also happens to be a delicious option for one’s diet and helps prevent kidney stones. The premise behind this tip stems from something called oxalate, also known as oxalic acid.
Oxalate is an organic compound that forms naturally in human bodies, but can be troublesome, and sometimes dangerous, in elevated amounts. A common problem with elevated amounts of oxalate is kidney stones, namely calcium oxalate kidney stones – the most common form.
As Dr. Mercola explains, “Over accumulation can occur either from overconsumption, or because your body either absorbs exceptionally high amounts of soluble oxalates or overproduces oxalate (primary hyperoxaluria2), or if you excrete excessive amounts of urinary calcium (hypercalciuria3).”
Kidney stones form when the calcium and oxalate, from one’s food intake, crystallize. This is an extremely painful problem and takes a good deal of time to heal. Some people suffer from kidney stones many times in their lives before really understanding the problem.
Why Eat Leafy Greens with Lots of Butter?
Fortunately, research has been done on the likelihood of oxalate and kidney stone formation. The researchers have discovered that increasing calcium can actually limit crystallization in one’s urine and allow for healthy absorption of oxalic acid.
That being said, taking more calcium when kidney stones are primarily made up of calcium can seem counterproductive. However, it is not at all. Kidney stones occur when there is not enough calcium in one’s diet. The increase in low calcium diets, or maintenance of calcium in a healthy diet, can bolster the body’s ability for proper nutrient absorption.
It’s important to eat calcium-rich foods, in general, but it’s even more important to eat them with oxalate-containing foods, like leafy greens. This is why butter with leafy greens is a tasty example. However, any combination of calcium-rich foods and oxalate-rich foods can be eaten to create this approach.
The Science Behind Why You Should Eat Leafy Greens with Lots of Butter
As stated earlier, any combination of calcium-rich foods and oxalate containing foods can be eaten to help prevent kidney stones. As simple as that seems, there’s quite a bit of science and research to prove the benefits of calcium with oxalate-rich foods.
Per Dr. Mercola, the science to back this up is interesting to note:
- “Soluble oxalates, when consumed, have the ability to bind to calcium in the spinach and any calcium in foods consumed with the spinach, reducing the absorption of soluble oxalate.”
- “Addition of sour cream and Calci-Trim milk reduced the availability of the oxalate in the spinach significantly in both the 6-hour and 24-hour collection periods.”
- “While your kidneys are the most commonly affected organ, oxalates can affect other organs and conditions as well. Examples include fibromyalgia and vulvodynia (vulvar pain).
- “Oxalate stones can also be a source of inflammation and significant oxidative damage.Oxalate also impairs the absorption of nonheme iron and can lower your iron stores, needed for red blood cell formation.”
- “Calcium is the most potent modifier of the oxalate absorption.”
Essentially the science has proven in multiple studies and research, that together calcium-rich foods and oxalate-rich foods are healthy and important to one’s diet.
Suggestions other than to Eat Leafy Greens with Lots of Butter
If buttery greens are not the way to go, there are other options for supplementing calcium and oxalate. One way many people use to increase their calcium is through oral supplements and manufactured calcium.
Unfortunately, calcium supplements and calcium-rich foods are not interchangeable, especially in this case. A 1997 Annals of Internal Medicine study checked into this and determined, “Whereas calcium-rich foods lowered the risk of kidney stones by 35%, calcium supplements raised it by 20%.”
This biggest reason for this finding was due to supplements being taken in the morning, and on an empty stomach. Therefore, it is possible that their effects would be more beneficial if they were included in an oxalate-rich meal.
Here are some suggestions other than leafy greens and butter:
- Take your supplement with a green smoothie or fresh-pressed vegetable juice in the morning
- Grind clean, discarded, dried egg shells into a fine powder that you can then add to foods, smoothies and green juices
- Eat cooked spinach with some cottage cheese, sour cream, a glass of raw, organic milk or some organic raw butter
- Drink enough water
- Limit animal protein
- Supplemental vitamin C is also recommended for those at risk of stone formation
- Get adequate magnesium and vitamin B6 in your diet
All of the suggestions above are recommended by the doctors at Reed Chiropractic, and can prove beneficial to someone concerned with kidney stones. It’s important to note that something as painful and upsetting as a kidney stone can be prevented with a few changes to a diet.
Reed Chiropractic, 250 W. Baseline Rd. #107, Tempe AZ 85283, Phone: 480-785-1355
