Oxalates in some Indian green leafy vegetables

Abstract

The soluble and total oxalate contents of 11 leafy vegetables grown in India were determined. Spinach, purple and green amaranth and colocasia contained high levels of total oxalates, which ranged from 5,138.0±37.6 mg/100 g dry matter up to 12,576.1±107.9 mg/100 g dry matter. Seven other leafy vegetables (curry, drumstick, shepu, fenugreek, coriander, radish and onion stalks) contained only insoluble oxalate, which ranged from 209.0±5.0 mg/100 g dry matter to 2,774.9±18.4 mg/100 g dry matter. In vitro digestion of the samples showed that the gastric available oxalate was 10% lower than the values obtained from acid extraction and that intestinal available oxalate was 20% lower than the values obtained following hot water extraction. The percentage calcium bound in the insoluble oxalate fraction of the dried leafy vegetables ranged from 3.3% to 86.7% of the total calcium. Addition of four different sources of calcium (low fat milk, whole milk, calcium carbonate and calcium sulphate) resulted in a range of 32–100% reductions of intestinal available oxalate in the mixture.