Do you like juices? It’s a reminder that too much of a good thing can be unhealthy or even cause injury in very rare cases.
A liver specialist is sounding the alarm over fad diets being promoted online and calling for a “detox juice” made of lots of raw fruits and vegetables blended in a blender.
Dr Abby Philips says she saw at least two patients who appeared to have developed kidney damage after daily consuming homemade juice containing ingredients such as gooseberries, beets, spinach, green leafy vegetables and citrus fruits .
“Please don’t. This can cause OXALATE KIDNEY INJURY and the kidneys take a LONG time to recover,” Philips tweeted last month.
Philips says it’s okay to have the occasional fruit or vegetable juice, but he wants to warn people – those in good health and those with chronic liver disease, kidney disease or diabetes – to juice vegetables and fruits together “irrationally”.
“For example, juicing oranges and avocados with beets and spinach leads to very high levels of oxalates in the final product, which can damage the kidneys,” said Philips, a specialist in hepatology and Liver Transplant Medicine at Rajagiri Hospital, Kerala, India. TODAY.com.
“The only detox that really works in humans is their own liver and kidneys. As I always say, ‘We don’t detoxify the liver, the liver detoxifies us.’ at all necessary to detox because the only aspect of detox is the bank savings of the person.
Kidney specialist Dr Ray Bignall says kidney damage caused by oxalate is unlikely to affect the average person who consumes juice as part of their breakfast, but agrees it is important not to overdo it.
“I think the main message is, just like your mom told you, everything in moderation,” Bignall, a pediatric nephrologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, told TODAY.com.
“The author of the tweet was right to sound the alarm about the danger of fad diets and fad nutritional trends. Certainly, whenever someone wishes to participate in a unique diet or nutrition program, he should always consult his licensed nutritionist and doctor in order to do this safely.
What are oxalates?
Oxalate is a compound found in a number of foods, especially some leafy vegetables, says Bignall.
The National Institutes of Health state that foods high in oxalates include:
Fruits: rhubarb, currants, canned fruit salad, strawberries and Concord grapes
Vegetables: beets, leeks, courgettes, sweet potatoes, spinach and tomato soup
Drinks : tea and instant coffee
other meals: oatmeal, tofu, nuts and chocolate
How do oxalates affect the kidneys?
Excess oxalate production or absorption can ultimately lead to kidney damage, warn researchers in the World Journal of Nephrology and Urology.
This type of lesion, called oxalate nephropathy, may be related to an inherited metabolic disorder or intestinal malabsorption.
But it may also be ingestion-related if a person eats excessive amounts of oxalate-rich foods such as leafy green vegetables, rhubarb, starfruit, tree nuts, and soy products,” especially in the context of juice diets,” studies have found.
This is rare, says Dr. Joseph Vassalotti, chief medical officer of the National Kidney Foundation.
“I fear scaring people about a rare or uncommon complication of what are generally healthy drinks if used in reasonable amounts for most people,” Vassalotti told TODAY.com in a statement.
Bignall agrees that this type of injury is extremely rare. Those at risk may be those who include oxalate-rich foods as part of an “aggressive juicing program” and consume a large amount of this juice.
extreme juice
Consider, for example, the case of a 68-year-old man who developed severe acute oxalate nephropathy six months after beginning a daily diet of oxalate-rich fruit and vegetable juices.
He mixed a third of a pound of raw spinach leaves with Swiss chard, then added broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, kale, beets, cilantro, parsnips, mushrooms, onions and blueberries or raspberries. He added 4 ounces of water to the mix and drank a liter a day.
In addition to a breakfast of oatmeal and vegetables, and a lunch and dinner of mashed yams, spinach, Swiss chard, tofu and chickpeas, the The man’s daily oxalate intake was about 10 times that of a typical diet, according to case reports in Nephrology.
Another case report featured a “very health conscious” 81-year-old man who developed diet-induced oxalate nephropathy after a nut-rich diet that also included consuming more than 4 cups of almond milk daily. The drink has the highest oxalate concentration among plant-based milk substitutes, according to studies.
It’s important not to overdo it when it comes to her diet, says Bignall. This includes people with healthy kidneys and those with mild kidney dysfunction due to high blood pressure or diabetes who “rush” into unhealthy consumption of oxalate-rich foods, he adds.
“Do I think people are putting themselves at undue risk by consuming one or two fruit or vegetable juices a day? No, the average person can consume a reasonable number of a few glasses of juice per day,” says Bignall.
“We doctors want to encourage our patients to eat healthy foods. But like anything, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing,” says Bignall.
