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Oxalate Sensitivity - Where

does it come from and how
to fix it??
There would be a great injustice if we
didn't talk about oxalate sensitivity in
our healing journey. Far more people
su!er from oxalate sensitivity, causing
agonizing symptoms, without them
even realizing it.

One of the very first things I do when

bombarded with questions on a
particular topic (this time oxalates)
I look at where it fits into the "Cycle of
Illness". Genes? Mitochondria (cell)
metabolism? Methylation? Gut
health?? And then try to figure out
what came first - the chicken or the
egg? It can take some time looking at
it from di!erent angles before a clear
picture starts to emerge.

What are Oxalates?

Oxalates are a nutrient called oxalate

or oxalic acid, and are a naturally
occurring compound in plants like
leafy greens, legumes, and most other
plant foods.

Our cells need these plant foods in

order to keep our bodies healthy.
Plant foods directly impact a process
called Cellular Respiration. Cellular
respiration is a series of chemical
reactions that break down glucose
to produce ATP, which may be used
as energy to power many reactions
throughout the body.

There are three main steps

of cellular respiration: glycolysis, the
citric acid cycle,
and oxidative
phosphorylation

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is an

organic compound that provides
energy to drive many processes in
living cells, such as muscle
contraction, nerve impulse
propagation, condensate dissolution,
and chemical synthesis. Found in all
known forms of life, ATP is often
referred to as the "molecular unit of
currency" of intracellular energy
transfer.[2] When consumed in
metabolic processes, it converts
either to adenosine diphosphate (ADP)
or to adenosine monophosphate
(AMP). Other processes regenerate
ATP. The human body recycles its own
body weight equivalent in ATP each
day.[3] It is also a precursor to DNA
and RNA, and is used as a coenzyme.

So as you can see by the diagram

above, Glucose gets turned into ATP
for the body. The plant needs ATP to
create light energy or glucose. Our
body takes the glucose from the
plants and turns it into energy. Do you
see the direct relationship between
our cells and plants?

Even though plant foods are essential

for our health, for some folks,
however, adding a mere morsel of
plant foods to their diets causes
terrible symptoms. But why??' Down
the rabbit hole I go....

Like many things in life - moderation

is the key. Our body does have the
ability to manage mild levels of
oxalates in our body. But if oxalate
levels build up too high, we will su!er
consequences in our health by
damaging cells, organs, systems, and
further throwing o! methylation.

Oxalates aren’t something most

doctors are even aware of, let alone
on their radar as potential
protagonists. There is one quick way
to know - If you su!er from
horrendous, terrible, very bad, no
good kidney stones. That's one very
easy way to know if you have oxalate
sensitivity; but its not always that
simple.

Why do oxalates levels rise to toxic

levels and cause us harm?

Leaky Gut. One of the main reasons

oxalates become a problem, is that
they leak in through a leaky gut when
the gut is significantly damaged - and
most of us have a leaky gut of some
kind.

The modern western diet. The caloric

dense, nutrient deficient, chemical
laden, gut busting western diet is
another notorious cause of gut
dysbiosis and damage - resulting in
leaky gut, and more and more people
are developing oxalate-related issues
because of it.

Genes. While there are some rare,

genetic causes for having high
oxalates, the vast majority of people
with oxalate problems cannot blame it
on their genes. (Not exactly anyway.)

Gall Bladder Issues & Poor Digestion.

A poor functioning gallbladder is the
NUMBER ONE REASON we develop
oxalate issues. And a healthy
gallbladder is necessary to digesting
food, and proper methylation is
essential for a healthy gallbladder.

Those su!ering from recurring issues

of candida, bacterial overgrowths,
infections, parasites, etc. tend to
have more prevalent issues with
oxalates - why? Because the
gallbladder and its bile is what keeps
the gut microbiome in check. Its what
detoxes the gut! If you don't have a
healthy gallbladder it CAN NOT do
this. So you can see where the
Gallbladder becomes essential to our
oxalate battle.

The oxalate issue and digestion issues

were discovered when doctors and
scientists noticed a connection after
bariatric surgery. To illustrate the
connection between gut dysfunction
and oxalates, they startd by looking at
how oxalate levels rise after bariatric
surgery. Research has showed that
individuals who compromised their
upper GI tract with surgery develop
hyperoxaluria – (excess oxalates in the
blood and urine).1 The relationship
became very clear. When we damage
the stomach and gallbladder, it begins
to impair digestion. The more
digestion becomes dysfunctional, the
more oxalate problems develop.
Simple as that.

As I showed in previousvidoes
andpapers, digestion should stimulate
the release of bile from the gall
bladder allowing us to digest fats in
our diet. The problem is that many
people su!er from terrible gallbladder
function, and gallbladder surgery is
still one of the most common
surgeries in America.

It’s the bile from the gallbladder that

helps us fend o! the negative e!ects
of oxalates. Without bile release from
a healthy gallbladder, oxalates are
going to become a problem, esp. for
those with chronic gut or methylation
problems.

Bile acts like soap and soap chops fat

globules into tiny balls called
micelles – a chemical property we
need in order to absorb all those
healthy Omega 3 fats and fat-soluble
vitamins like A, D, E, and K. When the
gallbladder is working properly the fat
in our diet is absorbed in the small
intestine and the oxalates in our meal
form a compound with calcium
called calcium-oxalate which we
cannot absorb.5

In this way bile helps us absorb the

fats we need and pass the oxalates in
the stool so they don’t cause
problems (Figure 4.1). Normally our
body will not absorb all calcium from
out diet. The undigested calcium is
needed to bind with the oxalates in
the gut which helps us to rid our body
of this toxic molecule.

However the same cannot be said

when the gallbladder system begins
to malfunction.
When we stop releasing bile, whether
it is from stomach dysfunction,
taurine deficiency, or some other
health problem (like having the
gallbladder removed surgically), we
will start to absorb more oxalates.6
This occurs because without bile
release, we cannot absorb fats. Since
the fats are floating down the small
intestine without being absorbed,
they begin to bind with all the calcium.

Remember when I said that calcium

is required to bind with the oxalate in
order to neutralize it?

Well when the fat isn’t digested then

the calcium gets attached to the fats
instead of the oxalate. This causes us
to poop out all our healthy fats and
our calcium, leading to significant
nutritional and health problems down
the road like osteoporosis and
inflammatory diseases. When we do
not absorb fats properly there is no
calcium left to bind to the oxalates,
and we end up absorbing high
amounts of oxalates. As you will see,
this will cause problems in other parts
of our body.

What are the Genes or SNPs

involved?

When speaking to doctors we often

hear - "Just because we have the
gene, doesn't mean its a!ecting us."
That's true - its called Geno-type VS
Phenotype.

- Geno-type is the genes we

were given.
- Phenotype is the direct
expression of that gene that results in
symptoms.

However, if you have the gene and all

the symptoms that go with it - tends
to lead one to believe its OUR
PHENOTYPE! And no one will know
that better than you!!

However, please understand that

many of the following genes/SNPs
we will talk about are either;
- directly a part of methylation
- or indirectly a!ect methylation

Now folks tend to get really excited

and really bummed out when they
find out about their genes or SNPs.
Some get excited because they
received validation. While others may
look at a particular gene and get
bummed because they believe
they're stuck with the hand they were
dealt and nothing can be done.

Thats probably the hardest part about

trying to help folks in their healing
journey. Overcoming the mindset that
they're just stuck - its their destity to
su!er. However, just because we have
these genes, they may be our
tendancy, but they are not our
destiny!!! This idea is absolutely
critical to understand because what
we believe becomes our reality. But
also because the environment inside
the body, the environment that your
cells live in - that DOES dictate your
health and genetic expression; but we
we have the power to change that
environment!! We can change that
environment and fine tune our genetic
expression to keep us at our healthiest
selves. And if we have the power to
optimize our genes, that means we
can HEAL IT!!

So lets get into it...

In other words - as we talk about

oxalate issues (and low sulfate
problems) we are really talking about
an environmental issue inside the
body. And lucky for us,

Oxalates create biochemical

problems that make methylation
issues worse. In the illustration above,
oxalates impact the Methionine cycle
(far right) and the entire process that
stems downward from it. This is called
Transulfuration (or Phase II).

This illustration is showing the

Methionine cycle and and you have
remethylation which goes around the
methionine cycle again, and then the
transulfuration pathway that stems
downward. Note the word...
tranSULFURation.

With oxalate issues also comes low

sulfate (form of sulfur) problems.
Since oxalate problems and sulfate
problems go hand-in-hand, the genes
most e!ected will be the SULT gene
and other related pathways.

DIAGRAM 1: TRANSULFERATION
PROCESS

The sulfate molecule is key in order

for the liver to perform the daily task
of detoxification.

If sulfate levels drop, then the body

cannot use the SULT pathway to
detoxify. Instead it will be forced to
use other pathways such as NAT2,
ALDH, COMT, GSH, GSS, UGT, and
SOUX . However, a heavy demand is
going to be put on these other detox
pathways, and they are already
genetically hampered.

When we consider these other

detoxification gene SNPs (Nat2, ALDH,
COMT, GSH, GSS,UGT, SUOX) we can
begin to see that a lack of sulfate
molecules can have a broad negative
impact on all of our detoxification
pathways.

(slides pulled from Genes n SNPs slides which details genes

within methylation cycles.)

Even without an oxalate issue people

with SULT SNPs have slowed
detoxification and are going to be
more sensitive to toxins, hormones,
xenobiotics, and heavy metals.

Individuals with the SULT SNPs will

be:
- Sensitive to low s sulfate
levels. (symptoms will flare, and detox
will drop)
- Further slow methylation &
detoxification
- Sensitive to food colorings
and additives in processed foods.
These are phenols which
will further slow down the
SULT pathway

Without realizing it, people are

literally clogging/slowing
down/halting their SULT pathway with
toxins, oxalates, food colorings and
more. We are literally shooting
ourselves in the foot or sabotaging our
healing path.

MTHFR Mutation. We already know

that MTHFR gene is the master
methylation gene. The transulfuration
pathways are a big part of the
methylation cycles. So adding in a
MTHFR gene mutation means this
process is already pretty slow, add in
the SULT and it gets even slower. So if
you're eating a lot of oxalates on top
of that, with a slowed transulfuration
pathway - you're going to slow it
down further cuz you're wiping out
what little sulfate you had. Its going to
bite you in the butt and keep you in a
negative feedback loop. You can
stabilize or level it - but you wont heal.

This is generally when I say to water

fast and clear out your intestinal tract.
Let the body first finish detoxing whats
already stuck in it, and get out any
food leaking in through the damaged
gut. Then we rebuild. This initial step
can take some type depending on
how slow your methylation has
become.

Taking in oxalates and ignoring what

you're body is trying to tell you can
create:
- Further methylation issues,
- High homocysteine
- Developmental disorders
- Gallbladder dysfunction
- Hormone Imbalances
- Excess Inflammation

In individuals with an impaired

methylation cycle this can provoke
methylation issues such as high
homocysteine, developmental
disorders, gallbladder dysfunction,
hormone imbalances, excess
inflammation, poor growth and to
name but a few. So with oxalate issues
and the biochemical chaos it creates,
a great deal of stress is placed on the
methylation cycle.

What else inhibits Sulfation process

Many factors influence the activity of

sulfate conjugation. For example, a
diet low in methionine and cysteine
has been shown to reduce sulfation.
This is because they can be used as
building blocks to make sulfate.
When there is more than one
compound that is transformed by a
single enzyme, there is what is called
competative inhibition. In this case
one compound is unable to be