Oxalate reference · Beans, lentils and soy
Oxalate in pinto and borlotti beans
29 mg in a 1/2 cup serving, which the Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation bands as moderate. That is 34 mg per 100 g, for the most representative of the 4 forms measured. It sits above 58 of the 83 foods with a page here.
What is worth knowing about pinto and borlotti beans
The pink and pinto group sits low in the moderate band, below the white beans and above chickpeas.
The forms are not interchangeable here. Legumes, Beans, Pink, dried, boiled carries 64 mg a serving against 28 mg for legumes, beans, red, small, dried, boiled, so which one is in the cupboard decides the answer more than the food does.
Every preparation measured
| As listed | Band | mg per 100 g | Serving | mg per serving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legumes, Beans, Red, small, dried, boiled | moderate | 30 | 1/2 cup | 28 |
| Legumes, Beans, Pinto, dried, boiled | moderate | 34 | 1/2 cup | 29 |
| Legumes, Beans, Red, Chili, small, dried, boiled | moderate | 32 | 1/2 cup | 29 |
| Legumes, Beans, Pink, dried, boiled | moderate | 76 | 1/2 cup | 64 |
Bands are per serving as the OHF lists them, so a food can be high per 100 g and low in the portion anybody eats. Turmeric and dried parsley are the clearest cases of that, and neither is a problem in a kitchen.
Lower than pinto and borlotti beans, and doing the same job
Ranked by the most representative form of each, pinto and borlotti beans is 8 of 11 in beans, lentils and soy. These are the ones beneath it, which matters because a substitute is only useful if it does the same thing on the plate.
| Food | Band | mg per serving | Serving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butter and lima beans | low | 2 | 1/2 cup |
| Peas | low | 2 | 1/2 cup |
| Lentils | low | 8 | 1/2 cup |
| Chickpeas | low | 9 | 1/2 cup |
| Tofu | low | 10 | 1/2 cup, cubed |
| Baked beans | low | 17 | 1/2 cup |
| Kidney beans | low | 22 | 1/2 cup |
| Pinto and borlotti beans (this page) | moderate | 29 | 1/2 cup |
| Soybeans and edamame | moderate | 39 | 1/2 cup |
| Black beans | moderate | 51 | 1/2 cup |
| Cannellini and white beans | moderate | 79 | 1/2 cup |
Before you act on the number
A figure in a table is not a figure in your urine. Oxalate in a plant moves with variety, ripeness, soil, season and cooking — boiling leaches a good deal of it into water that is then poured away. What you absorb also depends on what was on the plate with it, because calcium eaten in the same meal binds oxalate in the gut so that it leaves in the stool instead of the urine.
There is no daily target on this site. The OHF publishes bands per serving, not an allowance, and what any one person should aim for depends on their stone chemistry and their own testing. If you have been given a number, that number wins over anything here.
Restriction is not the first move. Guideline advice for recurrent calcium oxalate stones starts with fluid, with normal calcium taken alongside meals, and with less sodium — and it recommends the fruit and vegetables a low-oxalate list tends to strip out.
All 83 foods, and the full published table · Why a low-oxalate list is the wrong tool for planning a diet · Why calcium belongs with the meal, not off the plate
