How to raise Oxalobacter formigenes without eating high oxalate foods

There are ways we can boost Oxalobacter formigenes along with other oxalate-degrading microbes in the gut without eating a high oxalate diet.

While higher oxalate food does raise levels of this bacteria, some people react negatively to them. Yet we still need to feed them.

How to get around this quandary?

Key oxalate-degrading microbes include

• Oxalobacter formigenes

• Lactobacillus species including acidophilus and plantarum

• Bifidobacterium species

• Enterococcus faecalis

• Providencia rettgeri (uncommon)

• Escherichia coli

To increase oxalobacter levels

1. Supplement with probiotics eg with Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species, but be careful not to feed overgrowths, which can be inflammatory (test first is safest)

2. Eat prebiotic foods that are fibre rich and tolerated like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, resistant starches like green bananas and cooled potatoes, or supplement with them eg PHGG

3. Eat fermented foods if tolerated like sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir

Also, where possible

1. Limit antibiotic use as Oxalobacter formigenes is sensitive to them

2. Eat some oxalates (it's impossible to avoid completely), especially vegetables and fruits as they offer important nutrients and can be better tolerated