Harvard has updated its Oxalate list, providing new information on the oxalate content of various foods. The list includes six new pages of information, including foods that have never been studied before. While the values may differ depending on factors such as growing conditions and measurement methods, the overall advice remains the same: eat all foods except almonds and spinach products in normal portions.
Takeaways
- Harvard has released an updated Oxalate list, providing new information on the oxalate content of various foods.
- The values on the list may differ due to factors such as growing conditions and measurement methods.
- The overall advice for kidney stone prevention remains the same: eat all foods except almonds and spinach products in normal portions.
- Other important factors for kidney stone prevention include getting enough fluids, reducing added sugar and salt, and ensuring adequate calcium intake.
Jeff Sarris
There is finally new research from Harvard. The Harvard Oxalate list has been updated. Let’s talk about it.
Welcome back to the Kidney Stone diet podcast, the show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your best life. I’m your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris.
Jill Harris
And I’m Jill Harris, your Kidney Stone Prevention Nurse. Oh, Jeff, Jeff, you’re still small in there. There you go, okay. Jeff, Jeff, I have my lavender oil I bought today just because, oh man, it’s been crazy over here at KidneyStoneDiet .com with Jeff and Jill and Dave, I’ll tell you what. So we just got holy brujole news and people are like, oh boy, God bless her. She needs to get out more. Listen, when you’ve been doing the same work for decades and you get a little new kind of stuff well it’s Christmas over here I’m gonna tell you right now so Harvard I didn’t even know this a patient or it wasn’t a patient it was a fan a follower somebody who wrote and said dear old lady did you know blah blah blah blah blah and I’m like no I didn’t thank you bye and so here we go folks.
I found it. It wasn’t easy to find, too. It’s not like this was promoted. They report on it here and there, but I mean, it’s not a big deal to them like it is to us in the kidney stuff world.
not for them. So I opened that link and I was like, oh my God, look at this, six new pages of stuff. And there’s stuff on that list that they’ve never studied that we’re like, when is Harvard going to update this list? They updated it. They actually updated it and they released the update. They posted it November, 2023. So several months ago, unaware.
So we’ve been, you can imagine guys, how much we need to change, whether it’s the meal plans, you know, but here’s the deal. Before anyone loses their mind, this video that we’re doing, we haven’t even released things yet here, but by the time this is out, we are working night and day to get this latest, greatest stuff on the website, in the newsletter coming up, so you can understand what’s going on. A lot of the…
the foods have been re-studied. Now listen, I want you, so people are gonna be like, oh, I thought you said you trusted Harvard. How could they have different numbers on their list? What have I told you guys for decades? You have a plant in this soil, you got the same plant in a different soil, it’s gonna be different oxalate numbers. There’s, I know each and every one of you are looking for perfect precision in these numbers.
Jill, why are numbers from lists different? Because it depends on who studied it, the growing conditions, all of that. The species of plant, it’s complicated. It’s very complicated. People use different ways in which to measure it. There’s going to be different values. Because of that, because I’ve always understood that, it is the advice I give with my list that is working for people. It’s not actually the list.
It’s eat all foods except almonds and spinach products in normal portions. Well, Jill, miso soup is high. It’s high, but you’re not most likely eating it every day all day like you were with spinach and almonds. Almond products, keto, paleo, diabetics, they are told eat a lot of almonds, eat a lot of almonds, and they did along with not getting any calcium. So before you lose your mind, not a judgment, just a fact with what happens with people, don’t worry. A lot of the foods actually are lower. Now, what are my feelings about this? Say a food has gone, they studied it, and some of the portion sizes are different too. In my newsletter, I will have covered all this.
There will also be a blog post. So you can go to kidneystone .com. I’m so excited I can’t even talk. Kidneystonediet .com, the blog. And you will find all the latest, greatest information in the blog as well. And it will give you very special things that I’ve outlined and spent hours, like the things that I know you’re going to care most about. There’s six pages of new information.
Some of the foods have gone higher, some of the foods have gone lower. And then some are just newly added. There’s about 30 newly added foods from pomegranates to canned pumpkin to arugula to all kinds of things. Coconut that we always assumed that was low and it is, but there’s all kinds of stuff on this list. So I’m asking you, if you want this stuff, go to kidneystonediet .com, the blog, and you will see it. I’m going to call it, I haven’t even finished it yet. Finally, new oxalate research from Harvard. Now what? So you’re gonna, Jeff, are you looking to say something? Are you good? Okay, I just wanna make sure. Because you know, there’s no stopping me today, baby. So get it in. People that even studied black beans, you’re going to be shocked. Kidneystonediet .com, go to the blog. Shock.
Now, I still trust Harvard. They’ve researched some foods. There’s a lot of difference, I’m sure, in plants grown today than there was decades ago. The bigger point is none of the new values are going to make or break anything that you guys have been doing. I promise. I absolutely promise that. Always, always follow this advice. My kidney stone patients didn’t just stop making stones because just the Harvard list. They worked with me, they took my Kidney Stone Prevention Course, they joined Group Calls, they got the information from the horse’s mouth. The advice, it’s not just an oxalate list, it’s how do you use the list? What are the other things you need to know? Y ‘all love to eat the same oatmeal and blueberries for 50 years, Jill. I like my breakfast the way it is. You’re going to be very interested to see what happened with blueberries. Kidneystonediet.com, the blog, they recheck blueberries.
So I have always asked you guys to eat a wide variety of foods within portion size. And I know many of you are like, well, blueberries are low, so I don’t care what Jill says, I might eat a buttload of them. Lots of blueberries. I always say, even though Harvard has said they’re low, why would you do that?
You don’t have to do that. Raspberries are high. You want to see where raspberries are now?
So, and then everyone stayed away from raspberries. And I was always like, yeah, they’re a little high, but if you want to put a few of them in a yogurt, I do, I like seeing them in my yogurt, have it with calcium, no problem. So, even though a lot of you who are really, really wanting precise information, even though some of these things have gone lower, even though some of these things have gone higher, please don’t lose your mind about this.
We have to report on it. We have to change things because Harvard did some updates. So I have to report, and Jeff has to report on what is the latest, greatest. But that doesn’t really change anything I’ve ever asked you to do, and that’s why we’re making this video. I want you to feel okay. I don’t want you to lose your mind, because when people work with me, the thing that they can’t get over is the oxalate part.
And honestly, guys, That’s what everyone’s afraid of, but it is the least important part of lowering your risk for kidney stones. Getting enough fluids. I’d rather you really freak out about lowering your added sugar and salt, because if you do that, you’re eating healthier. Getting enough calcium. Most of the time, just you guys getting enough calcium, which you need for your bones anyway, is going to lower your oxalate, boom.
So yes, Harvard updated their list, kidneystonediet.com, the blog to get all the latest, greatest, and I just reported on the things that you’re going to want to know the most about.
We are in the process of also updating the Oxalate searchable list that you can find on our website. And that has all kinds of FAQs about Oxalate. You can just type something in to our website and the Oxalate value will come up. Jeff is busy updating that now.
And I just don’t want you, even though it’s very exciting, and I’m excited just because it’s new stuff for this old dog, I want you not to lose your mind over it. Please promise me. Maybe if Harvard studied these foods in another 30 years, it could be different too, a little bit high, a little bit lower. There’s no precision, perfection in these numbers. There’s just not.
It has very, it has different variables that come into play. So any oxalate you look at, any list that you look at, oxalate list, there’s always going to be some discrepancies. I’ve always used the Harvard list because we have it, it’s a one-stop shop. There it is. And my patients have been lowering their stoners for 25 years, so they’re doing something right, but more than the list is my advice, honestly.
Eat all foods within moderation, take away the highest oxalate things like spinach and almond products because those are the two that people tend to overeat. And everything within moderation, you’ll be totally fine. Well, Jeff, I think I got everything that I wanted to say about it. Like I said, the blog post is going to have all the details.
The blog post will also have a link where you can download the new, we’ve updated the Harvard list, the PDF, and then Jeff is in the process of updating the searchable oxalate list on our website. Anything else you want to add Jeff? What do you think about all this?
Jeff Sarris
Yeah, if you haven’t been there before, yeah, yeah, it’s just an oxalate list tool where you can start typing in any word milk, and it’ll just fill out all the options that are available with the info that is most up to date. So that’s something that people have seemed to find really useful. We did a lot of a lot of feedback on that. And then with the downloadable PDFs, too, it’s we just try to be as helpful as possible. So I’m just curious. You mentioned raspberries. I think you mentioned black beans, a few different things. What are you most surprised maybe by or is there anything that jumps out to you?
Jill Harris
Yes, yes, I’m very surprised by black beans, 100 % surprised by black beans. I am very, huh? They’re not as high as you think they are. I mean, but listen, people will say, in your meal plan, Jill, you have black beans. I’m like, Harvard didn’t study them.
Jeff Sarris
And what happened with those? What actually happened with those?
Jill Harris
Look at the portion size, I’m putting a cup in a four serving recipe, so I’m not worried about it. Again, my patients lower stones not just from reading any kind of list, it’s from listening to the advice I have given for 25 years that has worked. They actually studied almond butter, they studied squashes, I’m not surprised there, they’re low. They studied, what was the other one?
They studied lentils, they studied the veggie burgers, they studied slim fast, I’m a little surprised by that, and they studied cranberries finely, good, and pomegranates, good, and quinoa, not surprised by quinoa, studied arugula for the first time, these are things they studied for the first time. Soft tofu, as opposed to hard tofu, oat bread, so some of the newer products that we use in our culture now.
And of course, I said the squashes, I’m not surprised by that. I’m very surprised by blueberries, they went up. I’m very surprised by, well not really surprised, I mean, I’m noting it, okay. What went lower? Raspberries went lower. Now, so I’m glad you asked, Jeff, because it’s important. So Jill, raspberries used to be higher, but now they say it’s lower. What do I believe?
Eat raspberries within a portion size. Nobody’s getting stoned because they had, you know, a handful of raspberries. It’s what you did all the time without calcium. People who eat raspberries are eating the whole little plastic thing. They undo it, they wash them, they eat them. The whole thing, because they’re like little balls of candy. So that’s why. But it’s never one food.
It’s never one food except almonds and spinach. Those two foods are repeatedly over, over, over eaten. And they’re so high in oxalate. Also, spinach went really down. It’s still off your list, people, because it’s hella high. But it went down a lot. Again, go ahead. Were you going to say something, Jeff? No. Again, it’s like the spinach plant was maybe grown somewhere else. It was a different researcher. I don’t know.
But there’s never going to be a perfect, every spinach plant that we study is going to be 714 milligrams of oxalate. Folks, it’s impossible. It’s impossible. Because they’re studied all over the country, all over the world these things are studied. So potato chips, they went down a little. People are going to be happy about that. I don’t even want to report on it because people are going to be eating more chips. But I’m just saying, here’s what’s interesting. Boiled spinach is higher than raw spinach.
And you know, you read a lot about, well, if you boil all your things, you’ll have lower oxalate. That’s not what they’re showing here. So again, eat all foods within normal portion size, please. Get rid of spinach and almond products and get your calcium needs met. Otherwise, I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with this. I know people are going to have a lot of questions. And yes, Jeff, you might want to ask them to call because there’s just going to be a lot of questions.
Feel free to write comments whatever you want, we will do our best to get everything answered. It’s very busy right now with us with all this and it’s only going to get busier. So if you, you know, just write a comment or whatever you want to know, we’re happy to help. We’ll do our best to keep up as well.
Jeff Sarris
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Write a comment below or if you have a question that you want to have featured on the show and have your voice featured, I should say, you can call 773 -789 -8763 and we’d love to showcase you, your question and have you contribute to the show. It means a lot. We really like having everyone’s voice, but yeah, we have a few of these. This is even an FAQ. We’ve had the FAQ episodes, but this is one that we had to touch on. So.
We need to jump in right away. Just let everyone know what to expect and not to, not to panic, of course. But if you’re outside the States and you have a question, you can send a voice memo to podcast at kidneystonediet.com and you can find the oxalate list, oxalate list and everything else at kidneystonediet .com. Just click the little menu at the top. You’ll see everything available, including the kidney stone diet meal plans, the prevention course, the free weekly email newsletter that Jill sends out.
We’re recording this on a Friday. She’ll be sending it out tomorrow to everyone to talk about what we’re talking about here in a little more depth and detail, just because a lot of like numbers and things like that aren’t necessarily as easy over audio. So this was more, yeah, this is more just to get you sort of understanding that this isn’t something to be afraid of the changes, the adjustments aren’t suddenly changing the approach or the recommendations.
Jill Harris
So true, Jeff. Yes.
Jeff Sarris
We know you like those numbers, so make sure you head over to kidneystonediet.com and find all of that. Yeah, I think with that we’ll wrap for this week. We’re almost at 10 ,000 subscribers here on YouTube. If you’re watching on YouTube, audio listeners, we appreciate you too, but for anyone watching, we’re almost at 10 ,000. If you’re not already subscribed, it means a lot. And if you give a little thumbs up to the video, share it with anyone who you know can benefit. It really means a lot. So I think with that, we will wrap for this week.
Thanks again for tuning in and we’ll see you next time.
Jill Harris
Let’s go baby. Have a good day guys. It’s gonna be okay, I promise.
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