Okra...oxalates vs. calcium content

[Aunt Caffy]

I was reading about okra and that it was a good source of both calcium and vitamin A. Unfortunately, it's also high in oxalates which bind with calcium. My question is this: is the calcium content high enough that there's still calcium left after the binding? Or is the oxalate effect so bad that it doesn't matter no matter how much calcium is in there?

 

[dmmj]

this is one of those things that's a touchy subject. the more hydrated your tortoises the less important the amount of binders if that makes sense. in cases like this when there is a high amount I just avoid the food personally there's lots of other food. That you can feed yourtortoise I if you can't use this one. I guess it basically comes down to personal choice I wouldn't feed that's my personal choice

 

[Aunt Caffy]

this is one of those things that's a touchy subject. the more hydrated your tortoises the less important the amount of binders if that makes sense. in cases like this when there is a high amount I just avoid the food personally there's lots of other food. That you can feed yourtortoise I if you can't use this one. I guess it basically comes down to personal choice I wouldn't feed that's my personal choice

It's one of the few green things my tort will eat. Rowan won't eat grass or weeds from his food bowl. He has to be outside and grazing to eat them. Rowan's very particular. He seems pretty hydrated in that he pees clear liquid as opposed to putting out white urates. Still, it looks like I'll need to look for more stuff to tempt the little thing.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Not to worry, IMO. The nutrients in the mucilage are otherwise not present in other foods, so they get something otherwise not available. Okra is BTW a type of Malva, and an okay food item on TTT.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2359186#

J Urol. 1990 Jul;144(1):94-6.
A further study of oxalate bioavailability in foods.
Brinkley LJ1, Gregory J, Pak CY.
Author information
Abstract
We extended the study of oxalate bioavailability by testing 7 additional food items: brewed tea, tea with milk, turnip greens, okra, peanuts and almonds. Nine normal subjects ingested a large serving of each of these items. The bioavailable oxalate was calculated from the increment in urinary oxalate during 8 hours after ingestion and bioavailability was determined as the percentage of total oxalate content in a given food item represented by bioavailable oxalate. Brewed tea and tea with milk, with a high oxalate content, had a low bioavailable oxalate level (1.17 and 0.44 mg. per load) because of the low oxalate availability (bioavailability of 0.08 and 0.03%). Turnip greens, with a satisfactory oxalate bioavailability (5.8%), had a negligible effect on urinary oxalate excretion, since oxalate content was relatively low (12 mg. per load). Okra, with a moderate oxalate content (264 mg. per load) had a negligible bioavailable oxalate (0.28 mg. per load). Only peanuts and almonds provided a moderate increase in oxalate excretion (3 to 5 mg. per load) due to the modest oxalate content (116 and 131 mg. per load) and oxalate bioavailability (3.8 and 2.8%). Thus, the ability of various oxalate-rich foods to augment urinary oxalate excretion depends not only on oxalate content but on the bioavailability.

Comment in

• Re: A further study of oxalate bioavailability in foods. [J Urol. 1991]

PMID:
2359186
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

[Aunt Caffy]

Not to worry, IMO.

J Urol. 1990 Jul;144(1):94-6.
A further study of oxalate bioavailability in foods.
Brinkley LJ1, Gregory J, Pak CY.
Author information
Abstract
We extended the study of oxalate bioavailability by testing 7 additional food items: brewed tea, tea with milk, turnip greens, okra, peanuts and almonds. Nine normal subjects ingested a large serving of each of these items. The bioavailable oxalate was calculated from the increment in urinary oxalate during 8 hours after ingestion and bioavailability was determined as the percentage of total oxalate content in a given food item represented by bioavailable oxalate. Brewed tea and tea with milk, with a high oxalate content, had a low bioavailable oxalate level (1.17 and 0.44 mg. per load) because of the low oxalate availability (bioavailability of 0.08 and 0.03%). Turnip greens, with a satisfactory oxalate bioavailability (5.8%), had a negligible effect on urinary oxalate excretion, since oxalate content was relatively low (12 mg. per load). Okra, with a moderate oxalate content (264 mg. per load) had a negligible bioavailable oxalate (0.28 mg. per load). Only peanuts and almonds provided a moderate increase in oxalate excretion (3 to 5 mg. per load) due to the modest oxalate content (116 and 131 mg. per load) and oxalate bioavailability (3.8 and 2.8%). Thus, the ability of various oxalate-rich foods to augment urinary oxalate excretion depends not only on oxalate content but on the bioavailability.

Comment in

• Re: A further study of oxalate bioavailability in foods. [J Urol. 1991]

PMID:
2359186
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

I wonder if Rowan bribed the authors since the little tort knew I was considering the removal of okra from his diet.

Thanks for the abstract. It's very interesting.