Hey All,
We had some spinach cooked in olive oil and after eating it my teeth felt weird, kind of gritty. I remembered that eating spinach would always leave my teeth feeling gritty.
I checked google and there was a site that mentioned spinach lacked oxalic acid or something to bind to iron?, it didn’t make any sense to me?
Thanks,
-Sandwriter
Spinach also tends to grow in sandy soil, so if it’s not washed properly, that gritty feeling you have could be sand.
Yes, sometimes there is sand left on the spinach if it isn’t washed properly. But I think that the “kind of gritty” that the OP is talking about is a weird, furry, almost suede-y feeling on the teeth when rubbing top and bottom teeth against each other after eating spinach. I’ve experienced the feeling, but unfortunately I don’t know what causes it.
Is it the same sort of gritty feeling one gets on one’s teeth after vomiting bile?
It’s not complicated. The oxalic acid in spinach (which becomes much more available if it is throughly cooked ) slightly etches the tooth surface and it feels “fuzzy”. Oxalic acid also prevents the uptake of iron and calcium so megadoses of cooked spinach are not a great idea. Everything in moderation.
Here’s an old thread with more on the effects of oxalic acid in spinach: My teeth’s got dry finish, cuz I eats my spinach
Okay, I admit I missed Squink’s previous thread. I searched on “teeth spinach” before I posted, maybe I didn’t go back far enough, I thought I hit the ‘any date’ option.
Thanks for the responses.
-Sandwriter
p.s. I was talking about the oxalic acid etch on the teeth, and not the sandy crunch of unwashed spinach.
I always thought that the astringent mouth-feel produced was due to the reaction of the oxalic acid with proteins in the saliva.
The slipperyness of the tounge over the teeth is due to the lubricating effect of the saliva. When the lubricant properties are broken down the teeth feel ‘gritty’ or ‘squeeky’ to the tounge.