SCD & Oxalates
Why SCD with yogurt is an optimal diet for oxalate reduction.

One research study reports that a high intake of dairy foods is more effective than calcium supplements to lower your risk for getting kidney stones. [1] Another researcher found out that if your diet contains enough calcium rich foods then you do not need to worry about consuming high oxalate foods!![2] The research makes it clear that it is vital to get as much dietary calcium as possible. Milk has plenty of calcium but it also contains lactose. Lactose has been found to increase the amount of oxalates. (In an experiment,the Asperillus Niger fungus produced a large output of oxalates when given lactose )[3]

The homemade SCD goat yogurt is the perfect food for ASD children with high oxalate levels.
1 It provides the beneficial calcium but does not contain lactose. The lactose is completely consumed by the beneficial probiotics during the 24 hour fermentation period.
2 The yogurt contains large amount of the kind of probiotics that degrade the oxalates. A scientific paper proved that the probiotics contained in the SCD yogurt are capable of degrading oxalates.[4]

[1]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9092314
&query_hl=13

1: Ann Intern Med. 1997 Apr 1;126(7):497-504.

Comparison of dietary calcium with supplemental calcium and other nutrients as factors affecting the risk for kidney stones in women.

Curhan GC, Willett WC, Speizer FE, Spiegelman D, Stampfer MJ.

Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

BACKGROUND: Calcium intake is believed to play an important role in the formation of kidney stones, but data on the risk factors for stone formation in women are limited. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between intake of dietary and supplemental calcium and the risk for kidney stones in women. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study with 12-year follow-up. SETTING: Several U.S. states. PARTICIPANTS: 91,731 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study I who were 34 to 59 years of age in 1980 and had no history of kidney stones. MEASUREMENTS: Self-administered food-frequency questionnaires were used to assess diet in 1980, 1984, 1986, and 1990. The main outcome measure was incident symptomatic kidney stones. RESULTS: During 903,849 person-years of follow-up, 864 cases of kidney stones were documented. After adjustment for potential risk factors, intake of dietary calcium was inversely associated with risk for kidney stones and intake of supplemental calcium was positively associated with risk. The relative risk for stone formation in women in the highest quintile of dietary calcium intake compared with women in the lowest quintile was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.50 to 0.83). The relative risk in women who took supplemental calcium compared with women who did not was 1.20 (CI, 1.02 to 1.41). In 67% of women who took supplemental calcium, the calcium either was not consumed with a meal or was consumed with meals whose oxalate content was probably low. Other dietary factors showed the following relative risks among women in the highest quintile of intake compared with those in the lowest quintile: sucrose, 1.52 (CI, 1.18 to 1.96); sodium, 1.30 (CI, 1.05 to 1.62); fluid, 0.61 (CI, 0.48 to 0.78); and potassium, 0.65 (CI, 0.51 to 0.84). CONCLUSIONS: High intake of dietary calcium appears to decrease risk for symptomatic kidney stones, whereas intake of supplemental calcium may increase risk. Because dietary calcium reduces the absorption of oxalate, the apparently different effects caused by the type of calcium may be associated with the timing of calcium ingestion relative to the amount of oxalate consumed. However, other factors present in dairy products (the major source of dietary calcium) could be responsible for the decreased risk seen with dietary calcium.

PMID: 9092314 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[2]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract
&list_uids=9761503&query_hl=13

1: Nephrol Dial Transplant. 1998 Sep;13(9):2241-7

. High-calcium intake abolishes hyperoxaluria and reduces urinary crystallization during a 20-fold normal oxalate load in humans.

Hess B, Jost C, Zipperle L, Takkinen R, Jaeger P.

Department of Medicine, University Hospital, Berne, Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to test whether increasing dietary calcium intake lowers intestinal oxalate absorption and thereby prevents hyperoxaluria and urinary crystallization during a 20-fold normal oxalate load in healthy subjects. METHODS: Fourteen healthy male volunteers (age 23-44 years, BMI 21.5-27.7 kg/m2) collected 24-h urines while on free-choice diet as well as on two standardized diets. The latter contained 2545 kcal, 2500 ml of mineral water, 102 g of protein, 13.6 g of sodium chloride and 2220 mg of oxalate (approximately 20-fold content of an average diet). Subjects were studied twice while on the standardized diet, once while eating a normal amount of calcium (1211 mg/day, oxalate-rich diet), and once while eating 3858 mg of calcium/day (calcium and oxalate-rich diet). RESULTS: Compared with the free-choice diet (322+/-36 micromol/d), UOx x V increased to 780+/-72 micromol/d on the oxalate-rich diet (P=0.001) and fell again to 326+/-31 micromol/d on calcium and oxalate-rich diet (P=0.001 vs oxalate-rich diet). Urinary glycolate (a metabolic precursor of Ox) always remained below the upper limit of the normal range and did not change between different diets, indicating that changes in UOX x V reflect respective variations in intestinal absorption of Ox. Uca x V was 4.60+/-0.45 mmol/d on the free-choice diet and 3.20+/-0.32 mmol/d on the oxalate-rich diet (P=0.011 vs free-choice diet); it increased to 7.28+/-0.74 mmol/d on the calcium- and oxalate-rich diet (P=0.001 vs free-choice and oxalate-rich diets). As indicated by the AP (CaOx) index (Tiselius), urinary supersaturation did not vary significantly between the three diets. In freshly voided morning urines (studied in 8/14 subjects) on the oxalate-rich diet, CaOx crystals or crystal aggregates of up to 80 microm diameter were found in 5/8 urines, whereas this never occurred on the free-choice diet and only t once on the calcium- and oxalate-rich diet. CONCLUSION: Increasing calcium intake while eating Ox-rich food prevents dietary hyperoxaluria and reduces CaOx crystallization in healthy subjects. This further illustrates that dietary counseling to idiopathic calcium-stone formers should ensure sufficient calcium intake, especially during oxalate-rich meals.

Publication Types:

* Clinical Trial

* Randomized Controlled Trial

PMID: 9761503 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[3]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed
&list_uids=11532105&dopt=Abstract

1: Kidney Int. 2001 Sep;60(3):1097-105.

Reduction of oxaluria after an oral course of lactic acid bacteria at high concentration.

Campieri C, Campieri M, Bertuzzi V, Swennen E, Matteuzzi D, Stefoni S, Pirovano F, Centi C, Ulisse S, Famularo G, De Simone C.

Department of Nephrology, S. Orsola University Hospital, Bologna, Italy.

BACKGROUND: Hyperoxaluria is a major risk factor for renal stones, and in most cases, it appears to be sustained by increased dietary load or increased intestinal absorption. Previous studies have shown that components of the endogenous digestive microflora, in particular Oxalobacter formigenes, utilize oxalate in the gut, thus limiting its absorption. We tested the hypothesis of whether oxaluria can be reduced by means of reducing intestinal absorption through feeding a mixture of freeze-dried lactic acid bacteria. METHODS: Six patients with idiopathic calcium-oxalate urolithiasis and mild hyperoxaluria (>40 mg/24 h) received daily a mixture containing 8 x 10(11) freeze-dried lactic acid bacteria (L. acidophilus, L. plantarum, L. brevis, S. thermophilus, B. infantis) for four weeks. The 24-hour urinary excretion of oxalate was determined at the end of the study period and then one month after ending the treatment. The ability of bacteria to degrade oxalate and grow in oxalate-containing media, and the gene expression of Ox1T, an enzyme that catalyzes the transmembrane exchange of oxalate, also were investigated. RESULTS: The treatment resulted in a great reduction of the 24-hour excretion of oxalate in all six patients enrolled. Mean levels +/- SD were 33.5 +/- 15.9 mg/24 h at the end of the study period and 28.3 +/- 14.6 mg/24 h one month after treatment was interrupted compared with baseline values of 55.5 +/- 19.6 mg/24 h (P < 0.05). The treatment was associated with a strong reduction of the fecal excretion of oxalate in the two patients tested. Two bacterial strains among those used for the treatment (L. acidophilus and S. thermophilus) proved in vitro to degrade oxalate effectively, but their growth was somewhat inhibited by oxalate. One strain (B. infantis) showed a quite good degrading activity and grew rapidly in the oxalate-containing medium. L. plantarum and L. brevis showed a modest ability to degrade oxalate even though they grew significantly in oxalate-containing medium. No strain expressed the Ox1T gene. CONCLUSIONS: The urinary excretion of oxalate, a major risk factor for renal stone formation and growth in patients with idiopathic calcium-oxalate urolithiasis, can be greatly reduced with treatment using a high concentration of freeze-dried lactic acid bacteria. We postulate that the biological manipulation of the endogenous digestive microflora can be a novel approach for the prevention of urinary stone formation.

Publication Types:

* Clinical Trial

PMID: 11532105 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[4]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8050718
&query_hl=2

1: FEMS Microbiol Lett. 1994 Jun 15;119(3):365-70.

High-yield production of oxalic acid for metal leaching processes by Aspergillus niger.

Strasser H, Burgstaller W, Schinner F.

Institute of Microbiology, University of Innsbruck, Austria.

The complex-forming compound oxalic acid can effectively solubilise metals such as aluminium, iron, lithium and manganese. In order to produce high amounts of oxalic acid for biohydrometallurgical processes, it was the aim of this work to optimise oxalic acid production by Aspergillus niger, a fungus well known for its ability to produce oxalic acid. A. niger excreted 427 mmol oxalic acid l-1 if it was cultivated in a pH-controlled (pH 6.0) fed-batch run in a 2-l stirred tank reactor. Sucrose and lactose permeate were suitable carbon sources for oxalic acid production. In sucrose medium, A. niger produced high amounts of gluconic and oxalic acids, whereas in lactose permeate medium only oxalic acid was produced. Cultivation in green syrup and molasses media lead to high yields of biomass, but low oxalic acid production (< 20 mmol l-1).

PMID: 8050718 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]