Oxalate reference · Chocolate, herbs and condiments
Oxalate in chocolate and cocoa
65 mg in a 1 oz serving, which the Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation bands as moderate. That is 232 mg per 100 g, for the most representative of the 7 forms measured. It sits above 71 of the 83 foods with a page here.
What is worth knowing about chocolate and cocoa
Dark chocolate is moderate per ounce and milk chocolate about half of it, with white chocolate low. Raw cacao powder is much higher than Dutch-process cocoa, because alkalising removes a good deal of the oxalate along with the bitterness the process exists to remove.
Every preparation measured
| As listed | Band | mg per 100 g | Serving | mg per serving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chocolate Syrup | low | 2 | 1/4 cup | 1 |
| Candy, White Chocolate, bar or chips | low | 8 | 1 oz | 2 |
| Cocoa Powder, Dutch Process w/alkali, Dark Chocolate | low | 170 | 2 tbsp | 20 |
| Candy, Milk Chocolate, bar or chips | moderate | 115 | 1 oz | 32 |
| Candy, Dark Chocolate, bar or chips | moderate | 232 | 1 oz | 65 |
| Hot Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Mix | moderate | 213 | 3 tbsp | 66 |
| Cocoa or Cacao Powder, Dark Chocolate (Not Dutch Process) | moderate | 656 | 2 tbsp | 79 |
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 chocolate and cocoa, and doing the same job
Ranked by the most representative form of each, chocolate and cocoa is 4 of 4 in chocolate, herbs and condiments. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soy sauce and condiments | low | 1 | 1 Tbsp |
| Parsley, basil and fresh herbs | low | 4 | 1 Tbsp |
| Turmeric | moderate | 46 | 1 tsp |
| Chocolate and cocoa (this page) | moderate | 65 | 1 oz |
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
