Options With Oxalate Intolerances

Some professionals are alarmingly suggesting high fat diets suppress or kill off bifida bacteria in the gut causing Bilophila wadsworthia to flare while others are saying the exact opposite. Wadsworthia is specifically implemented with intestinal inflammation. However, many people with extreme gut damage, including the world’s leading medical expert on reversing autism and autoimmune disease say the exact opposite is true.

Donna Gates, author of Body Ecology Diet told her listeners in the Healthy Gut Summit high fat diets cause all sorts of issues, including pathogen overgrowth of wadsworthia. She goes into further detail on her website saying, “Someone with a gut disorder cannot efficiently break down cooked fat, so the undigested fats will feed pathogens.”

 Dr. Todd LePine, MD, says Oxalobacter formigenes is, “A specific bacteria that will metabolize oxalate in the digestive tract.”

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The American Society For Microbiology says, “Oxalate-degrading activity cannot be detected in the gut flora of some individuals, possibly because Oxalobacter is susceptible to commonly used antimicrobials. Oxalate is formed in the liver by amino acid catabolism.”

They go on to say, “The main known bacterial species involved in oxalate degradation in the gut is the anaerobe Oxalobacter formigenes. First isolated from ruminants, O. formigenes has been found in many animal species and in humans.” People can obtain Oxalobacter formingenes through eating animal meats and fats, fats from grass fed pastured animals carry the most nutrient density. 

ASM says, “The use of probiotics to combat hyperoxaluria,” shows promising results. 

The FEMS Microbiology Letters says, “Oxalate degradation seems to offer an ecological niche in the human colonic ecosystem as well as in the gut of animals. Such a niche should offer an excellent opportunity for the use of probiotic preparations of Oxalobacter for replacement therapy.”

People with autism and those with kidney stones show deficiencies in Oxalobacter, giving them the inability to digest oxalates. This bacteria develops in the intestinal tract at the same time the baby learns to crawl. Antibiotics wipe out Oxalobacter formingenes, clarithromycin and doxycycline are found to be particularly inhibitory. Chloramphenicol, colistin, tetracycline and clindamycin also showed problematic. 

PubMed says, “O. formigenes can establish in the gut and reduce the urinary oxalate concentration following an oxalate load, hence reducing the likely incidence of calcium oxalate kidney stone formation.”

Chronic diarrhea proves to flush out O. formingenes. For this reason, while attempting to heal the intestinal tract, it is important to keep diarrhea under control. Quality yogurts, made with whole milk and live cultures, are extremely effective means of stopping diarrhea. Fage, Stonyfield, Seven Stars and Nancy’s are all highly favored brands. Dannon and Yoplait are not, click here to read more.

The NIH says O. formingenes are, “Antibiotic sensitive, repeated antibiotic therapies could eradicate it.”

The NIH concludes, “Our observations confirm a direct association between antibiotic consumption and absence of O. formigenes.”

Oxalates are high in nuts, seeds, chocolate, spinach, chard, beets, collards, okra, parsley, leeks, celery, green beans, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and purple fruits like grapes, figs and plums. If you are struggling to digest these foods it is evidence you are low in the O. formigenes and  building up these strains through the gut flora balance with healthy fats and probiotic foods is vital.

The University of Chicago performed a study and found, “Concentrated milk fats, which are abundant in processed and confectionery foods, alter the composition of bacteria in the intestines.”

This rat study was done by Eugene B. Chang, MD, the Martin Boyer Professor of Medicine. They said, “Bilophila wadsworthia levels were almost undetectable in mice on a low-fat or unsaturated-fat diet, the bacteria made up about 6 percent of all gut bacteria in mice fed a high milk-fat diet.”

The challenge with these tests is they used store bought pasteurized milk, produced from what is termed Frankenstein cows which are additionally treated with antibiotics and growth hormones. However, using raw milk from grass fed cows which is then fermented into whey, yogurt, sour cream and kefir gives a completely different outcome.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of GAPS, works with autistic children and those with severe autoimmune disease, reversing them after rebuilding the gut flora and digestion.

McBride, an M.D., neurologist, neurosurgeon with a subsequent Degree in Human Nutrition says, “The majority of children and adults with neurological and psychiatric conditions look pale and pasty. When tested they show various stages of anemia, which is not surprising. To have healthy blood we require many different nutrients: vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, K, A, D, etc), minerals (Fe, Ca, Mg, Zn, Co, Se, boron, etc.), essential amino-acids and fats. These patients not only cannot absorb these nutrients from food, but their own production of many of them in the body is damaged.”

She goes on to say, “People with damaged gut flora often have particular groups of pathogenic bacteria growing in their gut, which are iron-loving bacteria (Actinomyces spp., Mycobacterium spp., pathogenic strains of E.coli, Corynebacterium spp. and many others). They consume whatever iron the person gets from the diet, leaving that person deficient in iron. Unfortunately, supplementing iron only makes these bacteria grow stronger and does not remedy anaemia.” This is why introducing foods in particular stages and patterns is necessary, most importantly while building up the microbiome with specific probiotics, again building in order to reestablish homeostasis. 

McBride has found, time and time again without fail, “Fats are essential for the healing process,” since the molecular structure is so similar to our own it is easily absorbable nutrition high in nutrient density. In fact she recommends, in this interview, some patients, with great damage in their intestinal tract, eat a diet that is 90% fat. She says the more fat these patients eat the faster they heal. 

The NIH reported on the high consumption of fats and the remarkable benefits specifically with those who suffer from epilepsy and mental challenges. They concluded there is, “A wide variety of evidence suggests that the ketogenic diet could have beneficial disease-modifying effects.”

McBride says (p 70) people who suffer from oxalates is evidence their body is not processing them properly. “Once antibiotics wipe (O. formigenes) out the person cannot process oxalates, so these salts build up in the body and cause symptoms.”

She says another factor is, “Ample supply of sulphur is a vital part of the detox system, and people with GAPS are deficient in sulphur. So, they cannot process oxalates and many other substances in the body.”

Oxylic acid is removed from the body escorted by magnesium oxalate. McBride goes on to say, “When there is not enough magnesium, the body uses calcium instead which makes the person prone to forming kidney stones. Excreting this substance in urine can cause chronic inflammation in the bladder and urethra, causing burning and painful urination.”

Healing this situation has been proven clinically by McBride’s patients thousands upon thousands of times. She says (pg 71), “As your gut starts healing and your gut flora starts changing you will find that you can gradually introduce various plant foods rich in oxalates. Animal fats are an important part of GAPS Nutritional Protocol. They are essential for restoring the detoxification system and immunity in the person.”

If fat digestion is the problem she recommends addressing the gallbladder for stones. This will clean the liver and allow the body to detoxify better.

Fermenting oxyalate vegetables and drinking the brine through a slow and steady introduction, with a qualified medical practitioner’s assistance shows to be beneficial. For some people this means beginning with one drop of the brine diluted in a glass of water and taking one sip throughout the day and building up from there. Eventually fermented cashew cheese can be eaten. Cashew cheese is made by blending properly soaked cashews with kraut juice and any choice of dehydrated vegetable. Combine and dehydrated for 12 hours at 42 degrees celsius then let sit for two weeks to slowly dry using the affinage process. 

*Nourishing Plot is written by Becky Plotner, ND, traditional naturopath, GAPS who sees clients in Rossville, Georgia. She works as a Certified GAPS Practitioner who sees clients in her office, Skype and phone. Since her son was delivered from the effects of autism (Asperger’s syndrome), ADHD, bipolar disorder/manic depression, hypoglycemia and dyslexia through food she continued her education specializing in Leaky Gut and parasitology through Duke University, finishing with distinction. This is not a news article published by a paper trying to make money. This blog is put out by a mom who sees first hand the effects of nourishing food vs food-ish items. No company pays her for writing these blogs, she considers this a form of missionary work. It is her desire to scream it from the rooftops so that others don’t suffer from the damaging effect of today’s “food”.

“GAPS™ and Gut and Psychology Syndrome™ are the trademark and copyright of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. The right of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Patent and Designs Act 1988.