Does spinach consumption cause kidney stones?
Nearly 12% of the Indian population could experience stone formation in their lifetime. Kidney stones can be extremely painful and unforgiving.
Kidney stones are hard stones formed inside our kidneys because of excess mineral deposits and salts (that don't get flushed out) in the urine.
The four main types of kidney stones are:
Calcium,
Uric acid,
Struvite, and
Cystine.
In most cases, individuals experience symptoms such as severe pain in their abdominal or lower back areas, blood in the urine, and fever.
Most people opt for gharelu nuskhe or home remedies from friends and family. One such suggestion is to eliminate spinach from the diet.
Among the four types of kidney stones mentioned earlier, calcium oxalates are fairly common. In this scenario, there is an excess accumulation of oxalates in the kidneys.
This naturally compels people to stay away from foods rich in calcium oxalates such as spinach. Now excess of any food item could be damaging for the body but let's look at what the research has to say about oxalates in your diet.
Does eliminating oxalate-rich foods lower stone risk?
One research finding states that people who had kidney stones did not consume higher than average amounts of oxalates through food compared to ones that did not have stones.
This is because the risk of stones is not simply based on dietary consumption. Some bodies genetically tend to absorb higher oxalates compared to others and they are termed as 'super-absorbers'. Super-absorbers absorb 50% higher oxalates than the rest of the population. So unless you are a super- absorber, consuming spinach will not affect your kidney health.
Is it then safer to avoid oxalate-rich foods before an individual determines that they are super-absorbers? The answer is no.
Oxalate-rich foods comprise of fruits and veggies also, but high consumption of fruits and veggies is known to reduce the risk of stones and not increase it.
By eliminating oxalate-rich foods, the percentage of dietary oxalate in the body could definitely go down. But the body naturally produces oxalates as well and needs the assistance of fruits and veggies to flush them out.
To conclude...
While it is not advisable to avoid all fruits and vegetables, it might be beneficial to not overdo on oxalate rich leafy greens such as spinach.
As per the data, spinach does tend to have higher oxalate levels compared to most foods, and steaming and boiling could reduce those levels but only to a small extent.
Your kidney stone risk could drastically go up if you are on a restrictive diet such as consuming only spinach juice or numerous cups of just spinach per day. Besides spinach, swiss chard and beet greens are also oxalate-rich. Someone prone to stones must restrict spinach to small portions once a week only.
But all leafy greens are not high in oxalates. Low oxalate greens such as kale, bok choy, and mustard greens must be a part of a healthy diet and should be included.
Trust this helps,