Dealing with calcium oxalate stones is challenging. You have to be very careful about your diet to keep the stones from growing. It's hard to remain strict about your dietary choices since there are many limitations. One food that often gets overlooked on low oxalate diets is chocolate. Although the food is a guilty pleasure for many people there is a calcium oxalate chocolate connection.
Why There's a Problem with Chocolate and Stones
When most people think of high oxalate food, they automatically think about leafy greens like spinach and kale. There are also foods like beans and nuts that sufferers take serious measures to avoid. But all of us have guilty pleasure foods. For many people, it's chocolate.
But there is a problem with chocolate and stones. Cocoa and chocolate are also high in oxalate content. If you consume too much chocolate, it's going to end up contributing to your calcium oxalate stones. You can't make an exception with chocolate just because you've cut out other foods with high oxalate content.
This can be difficult considering chocolate is in a lot of guilty pleasure foods. Well chocolates and chocolate desserts are also high in sugar content which is also a contributor for forming stones in urine. This includes cookies, ice cream, hot chocolate, and other delicious desserts. While everybody is enjoying their favorite dessert, you may have to sit on the sidelines.
Does This Mean You Have to Avoid Chocolate for Good?
It really depends. A moderate serving of chocolate is considered to be six to seven grams per day. But you have to make sure that you refrain from what's even considered moderate. You don't have to let the calcium oxalate chocolate issue run your life. But it should truly be a guilty pleasure you enjoy once every month or two.
And when you do indulge in chocolate, try to make the right choices. Avoid cocoa powder as it has the highest content of oxalate. Foods like low sugar ice cream and chocolate chip cookies may be better. You still get your chocolate fix but don't end up going overboard with chocolate or sugars.
You also should consider your condition. How serious are calcium oxalate stone in your kidneys? If it's not a big problem but just a condition you need to manage, then indulging in chocolate on rare occasions probably won't be a big deal. But if your calcium oxalate stone is serious, you need to try to put some serious limitations on your chocolate consumptions.
Instead of chocolate, try to look for some better alternatives. For example, if you're going for ice cream, why not choose a different flavor like vanilla? Instead of chocolate cake, why not go with apple pie? In any dessert choice, you need to make sure the dessert is low in sugar or fructose corn syrup content. The reason why sugar is so bad is because it has been shown to increase the calcium content in your urine. It is suspected that the reason why this happens is because the sugar loads can deplete bones of their minerals, including calcium.
To make matters worse, high sugar consumption has been found to also lead to lower urine volume output. Bottom-line - Higher calcium concentrations of calcium in your urine along with a lower output of urine is creating the perfect storm for stone formation.
In summary, you need to come up with some of your favorite chocolate-based foods and think of a suitable alternative. There are many alternative choices you can make without depriving yourself.
