[Gpdd] HEALTH: June has stones, Sandy has been reading

[Sandra Oliver-Poore]

I read more about beets in the article I posted, it turns out that the
oxalic acid is greatly reduced by boiling beets in the beets but not in the
beet water, that's where the oxalate go. So I have read further and found 2
sources of information, there must be many more. The bottom line is we are
taught (aren't we??) to feed low calcium and low oxalate foods?  Well these
two studies I list below says that calcium binds oxalates in the intestines,
and 2. Oxalates binds calcium in the intestine.  They bind each other. Both
sources give high oxalate foods listing most of our favorites piggies
veggies carrots parsley lettuce chard spinach, etc.  I am left to wonder if
our problem is that we must balance oxalates and calcium foods in the
piggies diet and that both types of foods should be given together so the
binding occurs. If no binding piggies get stones, either calcium or oxalate
stones. 
So first I suggest that slaves of stone piggies always have their stones
analyzed so you can see what's out of balance in their diets 

Perhaps that's what allows boiled beet juice to be effective, if the piggy
get too much calcium the beet juice binds it, but it might be a problem if
your piggies problem is too much oxalates in the first place.  

This website says beets are high in oxalates
http://www.calciumrichfoods.org/reducing-oxalic-acid-vegetables/. This
source says " Some vegetables are noted for their high content of oxalic
acid that binds to calcium in your digestive tract and keeps the calcium
from being absorbed. Oxalic acid is also the primary component of kidney
stones. These are good reasons to reduce oxalic acid in your diet."
According to this and below its oxalic acid to be reduced, not calcium, and
that calcium binds the oxalic acid in the digestive tract thereby reducing
the chance of stones. 
According to the above source these veggies are highest in oxalic acid:
Beets,  Brussels sprouts, Carrots, collard greens, Parsley, Spinach, &
Swiss chard so maybe we should poll the slaves of stone piggie and see if
they eat lots of these veggies. 

 Another source,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalic_acid#Content_in_food_items  adds
purslane to the very high list and has carrots and lettuce as high. And beet
leaves but not beets. 

 Medically In humans, oxalic acid has an oral LDLo (lowest published lethal
dose) of 600 mg/kg.[15]
The toxicity of oxalic acid is due to kidney failure, which arises because
it causes precipitation of solid calcium oxalate, the main component of
kidney stones. Oxalic acid can also cause joint pain due to the formation of
similar precipitates in the joints. 

Also to stay on track about stones maybe we should poll the slaves of stone
piggies to see what kind of stones they get, and have them also make a list
of what their piggies eat, that's hard in a large group.  As mentioned
before though sometimes only a few of a larger herd might get stones so it
could be there is a genetic factor or maybe some piggies select the higher
oxalate foods. Big strong boars that swipe all the carrots comes to mind.
Also we are told and should still withhold alfalfa except in the very young
as its high in protein for grazers, and its high in calcium, piggies grazing
on hay are unlikely to be eating greens and veggies with oxalates at the
same time so piggy would be prone to calcium stones

The second source above makes me wonder if some of our arthritic piggies
might have high oxalic acid foods and therefore it may precipitate in their
joints causing pain like arthritis

 Perhaps some others of you could look into this as just now I am super busy
campaigning as it makes me think that balancing the two types of food is key
not just reducing their food supply to eliminate high calcium and hi
oxalates. We have done a good job of identifying high calcium foods and we
withhold them, maybe we need to just balance better because MAYBE by
withholding calcium we cause oxalate stones.  Please be aware this a thin
hypothesis and we need to study lots more. 
So I am still not sure about boiled beets as a stone preventative.
Sandy and Sammy, plus AR.  With nary a stone so far in all these years (that
I knew about)