'Fuzzy teeth' feeling from spinach EXPLAINED
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Date: 2026-03-07
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Comments and reviews: 20
hantoax
Oxalic acid is very special because it's the shortest dicarboxylic acid (with literally no other carbons in between. So because it has two negative charges, calcium comes around and forms a very stable 5-member ring that allows it to precipitate as a solid. The other carboxylic acids in food don't do this (succinic acid, sorbic acid, citric acid, lactic acid, malic acid, etc. The only exception is tartaric acid (found in grapes. If you have an aged bottle of wine or red wine, you might find tartrate crystals under the cork or at the bottom of the bottle. Tartaric acid is a dicarboxylic acid but with 2 alcohol groups (COH) in between them. In wine, potassium ions lock onto the acidic oxygen and the alpha hydroxyl's oxygen, thereby creating a similar crystalline structure. Potassium bitartrate is also known as cream of tartar, and it's also used to stabilize whipped foods like egg whites into meringue or heavy cream into whipped because it's mildly acidic but also solid, so it prevents the denatured proteins from forming disulfide bridges without adding additional liquid (compared to say, lemon juice. The reason why acids stabilize the whipping process is because acids throw hydrogen ions onto the negatively charged sulfur ions in cysteine (and also other negatively charged amino acids, thus preventing the proteins from repelling each other.
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Oxalic acid is very special because it's the shortest dicarboxylic acid (with literally no other carbons in between. So because it has two negative charges, calcium comes around and forms a very stable 5-member ring that allows it to precipitate as a solid. The other carboxylic acids in food don't do this (succinic acid, sorbic acid, citric acid, lactic acid, malic acid, etc. The only exception is tartaric acid (found in grapes. If you have an aged bottle of wine or red wine, you might find tartrate crystals under the cork or at the bottom of the bottle. Tartaric acid is a dicarboxylic acid but with 2 alcohol groups (COH) in between them. In wine, potassium ions lock onto the acidic oxygen and the alpha hydroxyl's oxygen, thereby creating a similar crystalline structure. Potassium bitartrate is also known as cream of tartar, and it's also used to stabilize whipped foods like egg whites into meringue or heavy cream into whipped because it's mildly acidic but also solid, so it prevents the denatured proteins from forming disulfide bridges without adding additional liquid (compared to say, lemon juice. The reason why acids stabilize the whipping process is because acids throw hydrogen ions onto the negatively charged sulfur ions in cysteine (and also other negatively charged amino acids, thus preventing the proteins from repelling each other.
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AubriGryphon
I love the story of how the WWI draft brought to the government's attention that, holy crap, Americans are _sick. _ Like, not sick enough to prevent pulling together enough soldiers to assist in the war, but if we had to fight a war ourselves, we would be in trouble. So they launched a bunch of nutritional campaigns including fluoridated water, iodized salt, fortified milk and bread, and 20-some years later when the WWII draft happened, we had proof that all those maladies had by and large been eliminated, and European soldiers were going, Holy crap, what are you people FEEDING them over there (Of course there was some selection bias -- Europe's best and brightest had been depleted while the US sent the largest, strongest farmboys to the front-line infantry and the smaller, weaker folks went to other roles -- but still)
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I love the story of how the WWI draft brought to the government's attention that, holy crap, Americans are _sick. _ Like, not sick enough to prevent pulling together enough soldiers to assist in the war, but if we had to fight a war ourselves, we would be in trouble. So they launched a bunch of nutritional campaigns including fluoridated water, iodized salt, fortified milk and bread, and 20-some years later when the WWII draft happened, we had proof that all those maladies had by and large been eliminated, and European soldiers were going, Holy crap, what are you people FEEDING them over there (Of course there was some selection bias -- Europe's best and brightest had been depleted while the US sent the largest, strongest farmboys to the front-line infantry and the smaller, weaker folks went to other roles -- but still)
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TizonaAmanthia
SPEAKING OF astringency in things like lemons and DARK chocolate. please expound on that. I'd really like foe you to compare and CONTRAST sourness and bitterness.
I for one adore sour. lemon juice, vinegar, sour candy, all that. but I despise bitterness, beer, dark chocolate, dry wine, lemon PITH.
but a lot of people conflate, or confuse the two, and I'd really love for the two different flavors to be better defined and described to the public.
also. where dies mustard fit in the flavor profile spicy sour both or a third
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SPEAKING OF astringency in things like lemons and DARK chocolate. please expound on that. I'd really like foe you to compare and CONTRAST sourness and bitterness.
I for one adore sour. lemon juice, vinegar, sour candy, all that. but I despise bitterness, beer, dark chocolate, dry wine, lemon PITH.
but a lot of people conflate, or confuse the two, and I'd really love for the two different flavors to be better defined and described to the public.
also. where dies mustard fit in the flavor profile spicy sour both or a third
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fariesz6786
yass! i _knew_ it had to be the oxalic acid!
i absolutely despise that fuzzy teeth feeling. i love spinach, everytime i'm like it won't be that bad this time, i'll only eat a little of it. but i almost always eat _not_ a little (depends on the recipe.
btw saying oxalates, like oxalic acid is like saying tablesalts, like hydrocholic acid
not really a biggy, but technically speaking it's chemically incorrect. found it funny. reminded me of The History of Numberwang and in countries like Australia. such as New Zealand
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yass! i _knew_ it had to be the oxalic acid!
i absolutely despise that fuzzy teeth feeling. i love spinach, everytime i'm like it won't be that bad this time, i'll only eat a little of it. but i almost always eat _not_ a little (depends on the recipe.
btw saying oxalates, like oxalic acid is like saying tablesalts, like hydrocholic acid
not really a biggy, but technically speaking it's chemically incorrect. found it funny. reminded me of The History of Numberwang and in countries like Australia. such as New Zealand
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fijit4
My wife is one of the unfortunate people who can't process oxalic acid properly. She gets horrible kidney stones from eating spinach and other leafy greens. She started getting chronic UTIs after we moved in together. It took a while to figure out what was happening, but it turns out that she didn't really eat leafy greens before we moved in and she started eating my family's recipes, where we shove spinach into EVERYTHING. Now, she eats more calcium and lower oxalate.
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My wife is one of the unfortunate people who can't process oxalic acid properly. She gets horrible kidney stones from eating spinach and other leafy greens. She started getting chronic UTIs after we moved in together. It took a while to figure out what was happening, but it turns out that she didn't really eat leafy greens before we moved in and she started eating my family's recipes, where we shove spinach into EVERYTHING. Now, she eats more calcium and lower oxalate.
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djobnoxious6407
Back in Venezuela we used to have the real-ass dark-ass spinach in our (farmer's) markets, not the candy-ass baby spinach I find in plastic bags in Spain. Mind you, I don't really know where exactly spinach originates from, but I find my old country's variety was much higher on oxalates (and itchy mouth-feelness) than its european counterparts, prolly bc we ain't been genetically selecting the friendlier strains. Marvels of living in sorta-developed countries!
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Back in Venezuela we used to have the real-ass dark-ass spinach in our (farmer's) markets, not the candy-ass baby spinach I find in plastic bags in Spain. Mind you, I don't really know where exactly spinach originates from, but I find my old country's variety was much higher on oxalates (and itchy mouth-feelness) than its european counterparts, prolly bc we ain't been genetically selecting the friendlier strains. Marvels of living in sorta-developed countries!
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MichaelKakam
hmm on your mention of cooking spinach to get rid of the fuzzy feeling: i tend to buy frozen spinach and boil it together with rice and carrots for at least an hour. Then i usually eat it (salted of course) with some cold refrigerated yoghurt, and still get the fizzy feeling. If the oxalates do break down under heat, surely they should have broken down for me. But i still get a very strong fuzziness feeling.
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hmm on your mention of cooking spinach to get rid of the fuzzy feeling: i tend to buy frozen spinach and boil it together with rice and carrots for at least an hour. Then i usually eat it (salted of course) with some cold refrigerated yoghurt, and still get the fizzy feeling. If the oxalates do break down under heat, surely they should have broken down for me. But i still get a very strong fuzziness feeling.
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VPCh.
The most dramatic example of this is rhubarb. The levels of oxalic acid are high enough that eating the leaves is poisonous. Even the edible stems are strongly tart from it to a level where it would be unpleasant to eat due to it.
The interesting part though is that after chopping it up and boiling, you can dissolve out most of the oxalic acid. Or you can add a pinch of baking soda to neutralize some of it.
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The most dramatic example of this is rhubarb. The levels of oxalic acid are high enough that eating the leaves is poisonous. Even the edible stems are strongly tart from it to a level where it would be unpleasant to eat due to it.
The interesting part though is that after chopping it up and boiling, you can dissolve out most of the oxalic acid. Or you can add a pinch of baking soda to neutralize some of it.
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stevenneiman1554
One small correction, spinach is actually not a good source of iron. The study claiming so was mistaken, both in terms of getting the amount wrong and also in terms of not accounting for bioavailability, which is a fraction as good as meat. Which does not invalidate the larger point that it's good for you because it provides lots of good micro-nutrients, it just doesn't provide THAT micro-nutrient.
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One small correction, spinach is actually not a good source of iron. The study claiming so was mistaken, both in terms of getting the amount wrong and also in terms of not accounting for bioavailability, which is a fraction as good as meat. Which does not invalidate the larger point that it's good for you because it provides lots of good micro-nutrients, it just doesn't provide THAT micro-nutrient.
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obiwanda
One food-adjacent thing that is extremely high in oxalates is chaga, the sterile conk of Inonotus obliquus fungi, which is popular as an alternative health supplement.
Chaga contains 4x or more the amount in spinach, and is quite counterindicated for those with compromised kidney function, yet you almost never hear the wellness wooks who promote its use as yet another ambiguous cure-all mention this
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One food-adjacent thing that is extremely high in oxalates is chaga, the sterile conk of Inonotus obliquus fungi, which is popular as an alternative health supplement.
Chaga contains 4x or more the amount in spinach, and is quite counterindicated for those with compromised kidney function, yet you almost never hear the wellness wooks who promote its use as yet another ambiguous cure-all mention this
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nathanlonghair
I was very surprised that rhubarb wasn’t mentioned, but perhaps that’s just my cultural bias because it’s such a summer classic in my country.
Here we used to add a calcium chloride product called non oxal to neutralise the oxalic acid, but in the past few decades people stopped doing it since we found out it wasn’t really necessary (and doesn’t exactly improve flavour.
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I was very surprised that rhubarb wasn’t mentioned, but perhaps that’s just my cultural bias because it’s such a summer classic in my country.
Here we used to add a calcium chloride product called non oxal to neutralise the oxalic acid, but in the past few decades people stopped doing it since we found out it wasn’t really necessary (and doesn’t exactly improve flavour.
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BillAngelos
I used to get a breakfast burrito that had spinach in it. Usually I'd feel this in my mouth 45-60 minutes after I ate it, and I'd have the crystals form on the inside of my lower front teeth. It was always fun to cut up my tongue the rest of the day on that crap. Raking a fingernail across my teeth had limited results, but did help a little bit.
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I used to get a breakfast burrito that had spinach in it. Usually I'd feel this in my mouth 45-60 minutes after I ate it, and I'd have the crystals form on the inside of my lower front teeth. It was always fun to cut up my tongue the rest of the day on that crap. Raking a fingernail across my teeth had limited results, but did help a little bit.
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vivianho7252
I feel so vindicated! My mom told me I was making it up when I told her spinach made my mouth itchy/fuzzy, I think she thought I was lying to get out of eating veggies (even though I have always eaten my veggies. Are some people just not able to feel the crystals Will come back to edit once I finish watching if it's addressed in the video.
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I feel so vindicated! My mom told me I was making it up when I told her spinach made my mouth itchy/fuzzy, I think she thought I was lying to get out of eating veggies (even though I have always eaten my veggies. Are some people just not able to feel the crystals Will come back to edit once I finish watching if it's addressed in the video.
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groxx
Capsaicin is my main go-to for of course mouth-feel is real. Because it's a _sensation_ that comes with the food, regardless of its structure / texture / temperature. And more people I run into know what that feels like _instantly_ vs astringency (few have just monched on a whole lemon or gargled witch hazel, for powerful-sensation examples.
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Capsaicin is my main go-to for of course mouth-feel is real. Because it's a _sensation_ that comes with the food, regardless of its structure / texture / temperature. And more people I run into know what that feels like _instantly_ vs astringency (few have just monched on a whole lemon or gargled witch hazel, for powerful-sensation examples.
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mRhea
ive always loved spinach and eaten many times, but never noticed this and had no idea what you were talking about. so i bought a huge bag of spinach, washed it, filled a huge bowl and ate like popcorn. it took half the bowl, but i definately could feel it, the inside of my teeth, when i touch with my tougue, is incredibly grippy
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ive always loved spinach and eaten many times, but never noticed this and had no idea what you were talking about. so i bought a huge bag of spinach, washed it, filled a huge bowl and ate like popcorn. it took half the bowl, but i definately could feel it, the inside of my teeth, when i touch with my tougue, is incredibly grippy
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hellterminator
It just occurred to me that I've never eaten raw spinach. Not really a thing in my country. We do eat a lot of spinach, but it's always stewed, which I assume breaks down the oxalates, like in that other vegetable you mentioned.
Now I wanna get some raw spinach to see what fuzzy teeth feel like, but it's 2 AM.
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It just occurred to me that I've never eaten raw spinach. Not really a thing in my country. We do eat a lot of spinach, but it's always stewed, which I assume breaks down the oxalates, like in that other vegetable you mentioned.
Now I wanna get some raw spinach to see what fuzzy teeth feel like, but it's 2 AM.
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kevingriffin1376
Thanks! It's funny that the spinach thing never gets brought up in spite of it being a very real thing experienced by everybody.
Another food topic that may be of interest is the unique taste of Chinese white liquors such as mou tai (sp) or bai jiu (sp. Is that taste from sorghum or from something else
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Thanks! It's funny that the spinach thing never gets brought up in spite of it being a very real thing experienced by everybody.
Another food topic that may be of interest is the unique taste of Chinese white liquors such as mou tai (sp) or bai jiu (sp. Is that taste from sorghum or from something else
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I0NE007
6: 00 - yes, spinach does have iron, however it isn't in a form that is readily usable for humans. It can be converted to a more usable form in a few methods of preparation but I believe one simple way is eat it alongside orange juice. Something about the stronger acid reacting with the iron, from what I recall.
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6: 00 - yes, spinach does have iron, however it isn't in a form that is readily usable for humans. It can be converted to a more usable form in a few methods of preparation but I believe one simple way is eat it alongside orange juice. Something about the stronger acid reacting with the iron, from what I recall.
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woltews
Popeye eats spinach to gain instant, superhuman strength, a trope created to boost the vegetable's popularity and promote healthy eating during the 1930s. The concept was likely fueled by a mistaken, widely believed, 19th-century scientific error that overstated spinach's iron content by ten times
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Popeye eats spinach to gain instant, superhuman strength, a trope created to boost the vegetable's popularity and promote healthy eating during the 1930s. The concept was likely fueled by a mistaken, widely believed, 19th-century scientific error that overstated spinach's iron content by ten times
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johns6787
What Fuzzy teeth is a thing I've eaten spinach all my life and never noticed such a thing. Not doubting, just totally new news to me.
Fun fact, we use oxalic acid, pronounced like your first try, to rid bees of parasites that tend to kills colonies. (No, it doesn't get into the honey)
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What Fuzzy teeth is a thing I've eaten spinach all my life and never noticed such a thing. Not doubting, just totally new news to me.
Fun fact, we use oxalic acid, pronounced like your first try, to rid bees of parasites that tend to kills colonies. (No, it doesn't get into the honey)
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