#What are oxalates?

[diet2all]

What are oxalates? #Oxalates are natural compounds found in vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains. Some examples of foods that contain the most oxalates include green leafy vegetables, soy, almonds, potatoes, tea, rhubarb, grains and beets. Oxalates are formed naturally in the human body as a waste product. #Oxalates #Health #Medicine #Nutrition #Naturopathy #Diet #Vitamins #Minerals #Kobiezra מהם אוקסלטים? #אוקסלטים הם תרכובות טבעיות המצויות בירקות, פירות, אגוזים ודגנים. כמה דוגמאות למזונות המכילים הכי הרבה אוקסלטים כוללים ירקות עלים ירוקים, סויה, שקדים, תפוחי אדמה, תה, ריבס, דגנים וסלק. אוקסלטים נוצרים באופן טבעי בגוף האדם כמוצר פסולת. #Oxalates #בריאות #רפואה #תזונה #נטורופתיה #דיאטה #ויטמינים #מינרלים #קוביעזרא

[suffer-for-supper]

what is this guy's name

[eldenphil]

everything in the name of science. etc

[momo-t-daye]

For @superfallingstars Snapetober 2024 prompt "Garden"; toddler Draco getting some lessons in the garden from Sev

Draco thought it was downright pathetic the way Gryffindors whinged and whined about Professor Snape being scary. Professor Snape had to follow a syllabus that was Dumbledore-approved. Professor Snape didn't get excited and go off on tangents about all the ways a plant could kill you or parasites could eat your brain, Professor Snape had to teach the same lessons year after year and was probably quite bored. Severus, who DID get excited and go off on tangents about all the ways plants could kill you or parasites could eat your brain, had terrified/trained Draco out of sticking random objects into his mouth at a very early age. He might be scary, but he was a very effective teacher.

Text reads:

-and the seeds are chock-full of cyanide! Do you remember what cyanide does for us? That's right! It shuts down cellular respiration and you die from histotoxic hypoxia! But that's not all, every leaf has our old friends oxalic acid and urushiol, which can mess up your kidneys and ruin your day. Even worse, the sap is incredibly phytotoxic and the blisters will hurt for years. Isn't gardening fun, Draco?

[jpitha]

"Potatoes?" "No, poisonous"

"Potatoes??"

"Yes, they contain solanine."

"Beef?"

"I'm going to stop you right here. We may be omnivores, but we were never predators, we don't eat flesh if we can avoid it."

"Okay, we'll do vegetarian. Tomatoes?"

She sighed "No, nightshades. They're all poisonous to us. It's the alkaloids."

"Rhubarb?"

"No, Oxalic acid"

"Okay, well I don't like Rhubarb anyway unless it's in strawberry rhubarb pie. Oh! Strawberries?"

"Too acidic."

"Hmm, that leaves out all the citrus too." Derek sighed. "Is there any human foods you can eat?"

Fellmeli thought a moment. "I'm not sure. Starbase?" The base's AI heard the request for attention. "Yes Fellmeli? How can I help?" Fellmeli swore that since the humans came onboard the starbase's AI started to act more like the Human's AIs. More outgoing, warmer, behaving with more agency.

"Derek and I want to share a meal. Is there any human foods I can consume safely?"

There was a long pause. "One moment please, Fellmeli, I'll check."

The pause grew longer, Derek began to fidget. "I'm sorry Fellmeli, we can just go to the canteen and eat together, it doesn't have to be the same--"

"Fellmeli?" The Starbase AI said. "I have finished my query. You can safely consume the following human foods: Chamomile tea, Bananas, chicken eggs, wheat - though I am informed that overindulging in wheat will give you gastric distress - white sugar, dairy products barring cheese and buttermilk, and most pressed nut oils - except cashew. I hope this helps!"

Fellmeli was saddened. it wasn't a long list. She looked over to Derek and instead of being sad, he was excited. "What is it Derek?"

"WAFFLES! I'm going to make you waffles! You'll love them, come on!" and he dashed off to his quarters with her following behind, excited but bewildered.

[los-plantalones]

Unexpected surprise at the strawberry patch: a lot of juicy yellow wood sorrel growing between rows of berry plants! These are a match made in heaven TBH

Some of you may recognize this as sourgrass, pickle plant (you can see the fruits that look like tiny pickles in the above photo!), or its true name – oxalis. As the nicknames suggest, this plant is sour AND it is edible. You can eat every part of the plant that’s growing aboveground, even the stems. The sourness comes from oxalic acid, which is also what gives foods like rhubarb and raspberries their tanginess.

To me, the taste is a combo of citrus, rhubarb, and a juicy sour apple. You can use oxalis to make lemonade, simple syrup, savory dressings and sauces, or anywhere you want to substitute something wild for citrus

I’m attempting to make strawberry + oxalis tart bars with these. Will report back with THAT 🍓☘️

[asteroidtroglodyte]

Me: hey babe wanna see something cool?

My Wife: sure!

Me: [holds out hand excitedly]

My Wife: …what am I looking at?

Me: a rock!

My Wife: When did you go outside?

Me: I didn’t! My body made this!

My Wife: what

Me: I passed a stone!

My Wife: [horrified silence]

Me: yea check it out there’s little crystals!

My Wife, horrified: um

Me: yea if you look here you can see the oxalic crystals and-

My Wife: babe!

Me: huh?

My Wife, freaking out: babe. are you ok. are you in pain? do you need to go to the hospital what-

Me: oh. OH. I’m fine! Really! Feeling much better actually!

My Wife: well. Good.

Me: sorry, got all caught up in how cool it was that I was holding a biogenic crystal that my body made that I forgot that this is kinda horrifying, huh?

My Wife: babe, I love your autistic ass but please drink more water. And maybe warn me next time.

[ourfag]

ed has a complicated relationship with spinach because it’s very versatile and beautiful and nutritious but eating it always makes his mouth feel like it’s full of powder and also he read one time that the oxalic acid in spinach can give some people kidney stones and he’s had a few kidney stones but he’s never had them analyzed after they come out so he’s not sure whether they’re the spinach kind and they’re probably not but if they were and he had to avoid spinach that would suck because it’s such a convenient thing to put in your sandwich even though it makes one out of every five bites of the sandwich feel like there’s chalk in it*

*he explains this to stede within the first hour of their first date and then gets worried he’s blown it already by talking about his urinary issues unprompted when stede was only asking about what ed wanted to order for lunch

[ketrinadrawsalot]

We interrupt these penguins to bring a correction to Fungi February! It turns out maitake (Grifola frondosa) doesn't grow in California, but what does is the magnificent beefsteak mushroom! Despite looking like meat (even in cross section!), they have a sour taste due to the presence of several acids, including oxalic acid. They're not common, but they are unmisteakable :P

Thanks to fascinatedbyfungi on Instagram for the correction and suggestion!

The poster's been updated accordingly on Redbubble

[dailybotany]

Today's plant is Arisaema triphyllum, also known as Jack-in-the-Pulpit. (photos are mine)

A. triphyllum is actually a species complex of four (or five, depending on who you talk to) closely related species. All species are native to Eastern North America and are found in deep, moist soils rich in organic matter. This group is still undergoing lots of debate in the taxonomy world, and the exact grouping and lineages are not fully known.

This species complex is part of the family Araceae, which is an incredibly cool (in my opinion) and diverse family that predominantly lives in the tropics of South American and eastern Asia.

Like most of its relatives, it attracts pollinators (at least in part) through deceptive scent compounds, which are volatilized and spread under exposure to heat. Unlike many of its relatives, Jack-in-the-Pulpit does not appear to utilize thermogenesis (active metabolic heat production) in its flowering parts to achieve this--it is posited that absorbed heat from the sun is sufficient for them to release these compounds! (Barriault et al. 2009)

Another trait it shares with almost all of its relatives is a very particular defense strategy: tiny, tiny knives. Its shiny red fruits might look tasty to some, but beware: the sensation of biting into it has been described by those brave (read: foolish) souls who've tried it as "like chewing glass."

This sensation is caused by tiny daggers of crystalline calcium oxalate (called raphides) being forcibly ejected from their cells right into your tender mouth parts by the force of your own chewing. Now that's what I call retribution!

[reddpenn]

Hang on, is there more than one definition of mineral? Like, when you said they aren't organic, I immediately thought of pearls, 'cause they're classed as a mineraloid, right? Or like amber (I thought it was a mineraloid, but I guess it isn't according to the IMA? Are they the only authority on minerals? Then I looked at biogenic minerals and organic minerals, and apparently those are two different things, and this was only like in the past hour, but tbh, if there's like a more clear definition and delineation, it's be useful to know the difference/categories. I can't really figure it out myself here. I honestly thought at least some minerals were organic in origin. @_@'''

Well if you’re talking about nutrition, then “mineral” has a completely different meaning, so yeah I guess so!

But regarding geology, this is what I meant by “there are tons of weird exceptions.” When you get into concepts like biomineralization, the definition of a mineral gets really complicated! Because tons of living things produce stuff that fits every definition of a mineral except that it happened through a biological process. Is the aragonite in seashells a mineral? The calcium oxalate in kidney stones? What about the silica in diatoms? What about your bones? Should ore deposits count if they were created by bacteria? And the answer the scientific community has come up with is... sometimes we count them as minerals and sometimes we don't, and it's actually not all that important!

Here’s a silly thought: ice only counts as a mineral when it is naturally occurring, because the definition of a mineral is a naturally occurring non-organic solid with a defined chemical composition and an orderly molecular structure. So the ice on a pond in winter is a mineral, but the ice cubes in your freezer are not, even though they’re the exact same stuff! And to follow through with that thought: we humans are causing climate change which results in colder winters. So you can make a really solid argument that the ice on a pond in winter is NOT a mineral anymore, because it formed due to human interference instead of natural processes.

And when you start to think about that, you realize that this is not a problem with nature, but a problem with words!

The thing is, the word “mineral” is a concept we humans made up to try and describe the world around us. We can give it as rigid a definition as we like, but the real world will always be more messy and complicated. Nature doesn’t actually care about categorizing things into “minerals” and “not minerals.” Nature just makes stuff.

[justkidneying]

Why You're Hungover on Monday Morning

So you know when you get drunk and feel like shit the next day? Have you ever wanted to be able to drink without getting a hangover? Well, I can't really help you there, but I can at least tell you why hair of the dog doesn't work.

Ethanol (CH3CH2OH): this is normal drinking alcohol. When you drink it, most of it gets dumped into your blood and into the liver. What does the liver do with it? It breaks it down into acetaldehyde (which is very toxic) and then breaks that down to acetate. The enzymes involved are Alcohol Dehydrogenase (in the cytosol) and Acetaldehyde Dehydrogenase (in the mitochondria). These both use NAD+ (which is needed for normal metabolism) to do their thing, which leaves us with NADH.

So why is drinking bad for you? Cause it inhibits gluconeogenesis, causes lactic acid build up, and damages your cells (yes, you can handle it and drinking in moderation is fine, but molecularly, it is bad).

Cell Damage: acetaldehyde damages pancreas, brain, liver, and GI tract. It also impairs memory and coordination (obviously, lol), and makes you tired (wow who could have guessed that??). Basically, this compound is the reason you feel like shit. Acetaldehyde is bad for you, but you have to make it to get rid of ethanol. Some people (especially those of Asian descent) don't have enough acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. This causes a build up, so they feel worse and get that nice red face when they drink.

Lactic Acid Build Up: okay so remember all that NADH we made to break down ethanol? It's making us have a bad NADH to NAD+ ratio. We really need that NAD+ to accept an electron and allow us to make ATP (energy). So how can we make more of that? We are going to convert pyruvate (made from breaking down glucose) to lactate. What does lactate cause? LACTIC ACIDOSIS! That is bad.

Inhibition of Gluconeogenesis: do you know what you do when you haven't eaten in a little while? You make glucose (gluconeogenesis). You can make glucose from all kinds of shit, isn't that cool? One of these things is called oxaloacetate. When you have no NAD+, you convert oxaloacetate to malate. You can't make glucose from that. The high NADH to NAD+ ratio also inhibits the gluconeogenesis dehydrogenases needed to make glucose. What I'm getting at here is hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) because you have no usable glucose and you can't make any.

So why is this bad? Well, because you don't have glucose, but your cells are still working (and getting damaged :() you need to give some energy to them to function. This comes in the form of ketone bodies. This is really only an issue for heavy drinkers, but over time and with increased frequency, drinking can lead to ketoacidosis.

But yeah, the reason you feel bad after drinking is mostly due to how toxic acetaldehyde is. That's what causes head ache, nausea, and memory problems (from all the damage it does to those cells). So no, drinking more won't get rid of a hangover, and hair of the dog does not work. Eating food helps though, so you can finally have some glucose to work with.

Now some more notes:

Fatty Liver: this is going to be more prevalent in heavy drinkers, but it happens because you convert DHAP to glycerol-3-phosphate. G3P can combine with fatty acids to make triglycerides, which can go live in the liver and cause hepatosteatosis (fatty liver). This is also bad.

Methanol (CH3OH): this is also called wood alcohol, and can most commonly be drunk via bootleg liquor. Your body uses the same enzymes to break it down, but this time it is making formaldehyde and fomic acid. Fomic acid causes ocular toxicity (aka going blind) and brain damage. So make sure you trust whoever you get your bootleg liquor from, okay?

Ethylene Glycol (OHCH2CH2OH): this is antifreeze. Same enzymes again, but you get glycoaldehyde. This then becomes oxalic acid and glyoxylic acid. These cause lactic acidosis and calcium oxalate formation, which crystalizes in the kidneys, causing renal failure.

Final note: your body can handle drinking, like 1-2 drinks per day. I'm not your mom, so do whatever you want, but at least now you know why you feel like shit as your friends hold your hair back so you can puke in the shitty bar toilet :)

[transannabeth]

i'm slowly playing the first ace attorney trilogy and i want to read your fics but i don't know half of the characters in them. i'm on the fifth (extra?) episode of the first game. when would you say i can start reading

oh wow i'm honored that you want to read my fics!!! i'm a terrible person to ask since i started reading fanfic for ace attorney long before knowing what was going on and piecing things together (like i only saw the first two cases and a tiny bit of turnabout samurai before diving in) so i am probably not the person to ask

but!! if you care about spoilers, under the cut i organized my fics by the games they spoil up to. which made me realize how much stuff i write in one specific area

right now i think the only one you can read spoiler free is turbulent golden skies if you're staying spoiler free!! you can also read the first chapter of dedications if you'd like, though the second chapter has an aa2 character

i hope that you're enjoying the trilogy!! and rfta because it's a long case but i love what it adds to the story. i hope if you ever get the chance to read any of my fics you enjoy them!! 💞💞

the game each fic is next is where it spoils up to, aka something listed for aa3 may spoil 1 and 2 as well as possible spoilers for the entirety of aa3!

aa1: turbulent golden skies

aa2: none whoops

aa3: the webs we weave; beautiful little fool

plvspw: birds of a feather

aai: none

aai2: next up forever (forever second in line)

aa4: final call; red tape and the pieces of youth [as of right now]; black, bitter, and a splash of cream; a foolish precedent; a turn about the thrift store (gonna find something that fits); one thousand one hundred ninety [very minor]; the safety of a dinner; stay till the a.m.; how to care for your slender palm lily; another four o'clock on a friday; cat and mouse; wildflower summers and fresh-cut bouquets [has aa5 character]; ascension, decent, and the landings in between; trust falls; phenyl oxalate ester; a little spring cleaning; inch by inch; phosphorous sulfide and the guidebooks we set ablaze; an experimentation in thermal equilibrium; da capo al coda; salty ramen and the upright fool

aa5: rsvp with a plus-one

aa6: one hundred and twenty miles (plus some for backroads) [so minor. could probably be after aa5 tbh]

dgs: none

dgs 2: steep for two minutes; the hunt for an invention of much importance; till our ribs get tough

[envihellbender]

So leaves of the rhubarb plant are extremely poisonous. They contain oxalic acid which is the same chemical they use in paint stripper. They have microscopic toothpick shaped crystals that will shred your tongue, throat, and digestive tract. However if you boil them like cabbage, you can eat them but only in small amounts otherwise you risk causing extremely painful life threatening kidney stones. Only you have to eat five kilos, but who’d eat five kilos?

Well, in WW1 Britain, people were starving from poverty mostly due to the intense rationing the government had to instil because of you know the war. As a result they put out many pamphlets encouraging people to forage for food and eat what was in their garden, they kept insisting that rhubarb leaves were not poisonous if you boiled them like cabbage. Of course, these people were starving and had to eat these things for every meal. They had to feed their families. So yeah, they ate over five kilos and this had horrific consequences and people died. They recalled them, insisted people didn’t eat them, put out a health thing, etc.

Anyway people forgot about this, so when rationing came about again for WW2 about twenty years later, the British government decided since they were bringing back rationing, they may as well print the same leaflets. The exact same leaflets. That told people to eat rhubarb leaves boiled like cabbage. And people did eat them. En masse. And died. Painfully. Horribly.

Anyway, this made me think of the US election for some reason.

[weebsinstash]

This vet is so competitive you guys don't understand

It's a first come first serve walk-in urgent care that does payment plans. payment plans. Never seen another vet do that in my entire life. They open at 8, but they actually technically begin taking people in for the urgent care and appointments at 7:30, so people will start lining up sometimes as early as 630. I had to lyft here and got here at like, 6:33, and there were already four people here

Sometimes it'll be everyone waiting in their cars if it's cold and then the second a single person gets in line, everyone scrambles to secure a place in line, so when I say the last time I was here (and this time too) I showed up early with layered clothing and blankets for Allister's carrier... like I take steps to get here early and wait it out so i can get seen right away. It's so frustrating I didn't get here faster, but I also don't think there's any harm in having to wait a little longer now that I'm already here. I just couldn't wait another day with Allister not peeing and suddenly not eating when there are very simple easy solutions if we catch things before they get worse. That's what I keep thinking. The oxalate stones are unavoidable but this is constipation... I just wonder if there's a specific underlying cause ... guess we may find out today

[curiositysavesthecat]

I find it difficult to urinate when I eat foods high in oxalates. The submitter of the poll might want to try avoiding oxalates for a while and seeing what happens

For the submitter of this poll