Food and the risk of kidney stones

22% of food samples tested by the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) contained substances that cause stones in the body.

Fresh bamboo shoots, broccoli, cucumbers... are considered foods rich in natural oxalic acid - Photo: Ha Huy - Minh Khoi - Thai Nguyen

The Food Safety Department (FSD) said that 58/263 samples tested were found to contain oxalic acid (22.05%). This substance remains in some products such as fresh vegetables, fruits, wheat flour and some products made from wheat flour (instant noodles, vermicelli).

According to Mr. Tran Quang Trung, Director of the Food Safety Department, of the 58 samples detected with oxalic acid, 8 instant noodle samples contained oxalic acid levels ranging from 31.9 to 177 mg/kg. Some samples of fresh vegetables, tubers, and fruits had oxalic acid levels ranging from 10.7 to 1,809 mg/kg, all of which were below the threshold that could be harmful to health. To cause acute poisoning, one would have to eat between 129 and 711 kg of the product.

According to Mr. Trung, although instant noodle products have also been found to contain substances that cause kidney stones, when checking instant noodle manufacturing enterprises, they did not use oxalic acid in the production process. The reason may be that this substance naturally exists in raw materials. "Research shows that oxalic acid is not only from "active" sources introduced by humans, but it also exists naturally in some foods. However, testing is very difficult to distinguish between natural oxalic acid and oxalic acid actively added by manufacturers during food processing," Mr. Trung commented.

Therefore, to ensure the health of consumers, the Food Safety Department strongly recommends that food producers do not use industrial oxalic acid in food production and processing because it does not ensure purity and is harmful to health. In the case of using oxalic acid as a food processing aid, it is necessary to ensure that oxalic acid is used at the lowest level and must be declared in the product quality records to the management agency.

According to the Food Safety Department, the combination of oxalic acid with calcium creates calcium oxalate, which can cause precipitation and deposition to form stones in the urinary, liver, and pancreas organs. When using foods rich in oxalic acid, it is necessary to pay attention to drinking more water to increase excretion. At the same time, take measures to prepare and process foods that reduce acid.

oxalic acid such as: soaking, washing, boiling, roasting, suitable for each food ingredient. For cases of stone disease (kidney, gall) need to follow the diet according to the instructions of a nutritionist. It should be noted that weight factor (overweight, obesity) is related to increased risk of gallstones.

Theo.Alo.Bacsi