My Oxalate Protocol
Oxalate causes crystals in the kidney, breasts, and brain, and is a powerful mitochondrial toxin that almost certainly shortens your lifespan and destroys your healthspan.
Do you have autism or have a friend or family member who has autism? Oxalate levels are three times higher in autistics.
Do your hands and feet tingle when they shouldn’t? Oxalate crystals have been found in peripheral nerves, where they can contribute to peripheral neuropathy.
Do you have trouble remembering things or summoning the brain power you used to have? Oxalate crystals have been found in the brain, where they contribute to cognitive decline.
How about tinnitus, vertigo, or trouble swallowing? These are all observed in oxalate-mediated ethylene glycol toxicity.
Pain in the joints, genitals, or kidneys? Could definitely be oxalate.
If you notice any powdery, cloudy, crusty, or crystal-like secretions in body fluids or exuding from the skin or other body surfaces, this is very likely an oxalate problem. If you have kidney stones, chances are they are made of oxalate.
But you don’t need these striking signs to have an oxalate problem.
Oxalate toward the top of the normal range is a powerful mitochondrial toxin that decreases citric acid cycle activity by 48%.
Since mitochondrial health is the master key to longevity, and since mitochondrial energy production supports all aspects of health, oxalate is a pervasive destroyer of both healthspan and lifespan.
You don’t need to have any of the tell-tale signs to have an oxalate problem. Impairing mitochondrial function is so broad in its scope that it could contribute to nearly any otherwise unexplained health problem.
For one person its allergies. For another, its twitching. For another, it’s fatigue.
Whether you have health problems you can’t explain or simply want to optimize, you want to get your oxalate under control.
Unfortunately, the sources of oxalate are often the very things we need to leverage for longevity: for example, glycine extends lifespan, but can be a source of oxalate; vitamin C reduces nearly every chronic disease risk, but can be a source of oxalate; xylitol can reduce dental problems, which correlate strongly with chronic disease, but too much drives up oxalate.
Some of this can be managed by appropriate moderation. For example, 2000 milligrams of vitamin C raises oxalate in almost everyone, but 400 milligrams only raises oxalate in some people, and 100-200 milligrams rarely raises oxalate.
However, some of it is highly individualized based on genetics. For some individuals, collagen raises oxalate but glycine doesn’t; for other individuals, glycine raises oxalate but collagen doesn’t; for yet others, a little bit extra B6 can make all the other stuff moot.
My Oxalate Protocol leads you through the reasons for initial suspicion of an oxalate problem, laboratory confirmation, a baseline diet phase, running further lab work, fixing nutrient deficiencies, and using whole genome sequencing to guide you toward the source of oxalate for you. It concludes with a series of experiments to perform independent of genetic analysis so that you can use gene-specific and gene-independent strategies to put together your personal protocol.
This protocol is a 7-page quick guide for dealing with oxalate issues that isolates all the highly actionable points into one simple place and walks you through how to select and implement them.
This is educational in nature and not medical or dietetic advice. See terms for additional and more complete disclaimers.
The Protocol Series
This is part of a series of protocols. See all of the protocols here:
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