What are the hazards of spinach calcium oxalate

Any kind of food needs to be eaten in the right way to bring out its nutritional value. Otherwise, it is easy to backfire and threaten and harm your health. Take spinach for example. This vegetable contains a component called oxalic acid, which can easily affect the body's absorption of calcium. So what are the hazards of spinach calcium oxalate?

After people eat spinach, oxalic acid is generally absorbed in the stomach and upper small intestine. Most of it combines with free calcium ions in the alkaline small intestinal fluid to form insoluble calcium salts, with a bioavailability of only 2% to 10%. For normal and healthy people, a very small amount of oxalic acid absorbed generally does not have much impact. As long as you drink more water to dilute the concentration, you can prevent the occurrence of urinary stones. However, people who already have urinary stones have a higher utilization rate of oxalic acid than normal people.

Especially for people with chronic gastrointestinal diseases and those who have undergone large-scale small intestine resection, the absorption rate of oxalic acid increases significantly. Therefore, it is better for these patients not to eat spinach. In addition, children and the elderly should eat spinach in moderation, because the oxalic acid in spinach can easily react chemically with the calcium in food to form calcium oxalate, which the human body cannot absorb and utilize, resulting in calcium deficiency. Children with calcium deficiency are prone to rickets, and the elderly are prone to osteoporosis.

Spinach contains oxalic acid, which not only gives spinach an astringent taste, but also combines with calcium in food to produce water-insoluble calcium oxalate, which affects the body's absorption of calcium. Especially if children often eat spinach containing oxalic acid, it may cause calcium deficiency. However, as long as we put the spinach in boiling water for two or three minutes, about 80% of the oxalic acid will dissolve in the water. Take out the spinach and squeeze it dry, then dip it in sauce, sauté it, stir-fry it, make soup, etc., which can not only remove the astringency but also reduce the destructive effects of oxalic acid.

The oxalic acid in spinach is produced by the plant during its growth process. As long as you blanch it in boiling water before eating, the oxalic acid in the spinach will dissolve in the hot water. Then wash it out with cold water, the oxalic acid content in the spinach will be greatly reduced and will not combine with calcium in the body to form calcium oxalate.

The above introduction about the hazards of calcium oxalate in spinach is very clear. It can be seen that before eating spinach, the calcium oxalate must be removed first before it can be eaten with confidence. Sometimes you may not feel anything even if you ingest this ingredient, but over time it will affect calcium absorption and pose a great threat to the body.