Ok, in my everlasting quest to add more and more foods that are available easily here in Hong Kong that are beneficial to my iguana's dietary variety, I have looked up various chinese vegetables' nutritional information. I have identified at least 6 or 7 that have Calcium to Phosphorus ratios of over 2:1 from various charts. However, I haven't been able to find any resource online for looking up whether something is high in oxallates and goitrogens. When I typed these terms in, I get led straight back to the iguana care sites, which do not have the veggies I seek listed.

Where and how can I find out the oxallate and goitrogen contents of these chinese vegetables, and what exactly is "high"? Is it measured in mgs per 100 grams leaves?

Here are the veggies I looked into:

These are promising, and the first two I can get right there in the supermarket. But I have tried and cannot find info on oxallates and goitrogens:

"Tong Ho" (Garland CHrysantheum) - C:P Ratio - 4.41~:1

"CHOY SUM", "CHINESE FLOWERING CABBAGE" Brassica chinensis var. parachinensis - C:P Ratio - 2.45:1

"Ung Choy" ater convolvulus or water spinach ( Ipomea aquatica ) -
CP ratio 2.7:1

"Chinese Chard" 86 calcium 27 Phosphorus CP Ratio 3.2:1

These are ones that are not so good:

Amaranth (Chinese Spinach) - 4.34:1 CP ratio, which is good, but high in nitrites.

Wong Bok (Chinese Cabbage or Headed Chinese Cabbage) ( Brassica rapa var. pekinensis)

C:P ratio - 1:10 BAD

If you have info on or know where and how to look up the goitrogen and oxalic acid content of the good ones, please let me know!

Thanks!

Anthony.

Ok this is making me really angry. All the iguana feeding literature say that Kale should be fed only occasionally because of high oxalic acid content yet I see in a chart here:
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcom...er/oxalic.html
That Kale has one of the LOWEST oxalic acid content. Lower than Collard greens, turnip greens, watercress of any of that stuff by far. In fact, it is one of the LOWEST in oxalic acid content. Yet every says it is high, Melissa Kaplan, Green Iguana Society, everyone.

What's the deal with that? Am I missing something here?

I can look and look and read and read and everything is wrong.

Replover - I don't know of any sites that list the oxalate levels of greens but I have a printed sheet of veg nutritional values that I could e-mail you if you like. It is really aimed at BD owners but the veg/greens are the same as found on iguana diet sheets. It gives you the Ca:P ratios, protein levels, fat levels, fibre, sugar, water levels and any other good/bad points to note about them.

You can e-mail me on brittone05@aol.com and I will send it over to you if you want - it is saved on my PC and I don't know how to download it onto here

Thanks Brittone I just sent you an e-mail. Look forward to getting the sheet.

Can someone tell me what's with the Kale thing? It's really upsetting me. Its like I can't trust anything I read.

Its really more a case of rotating the foods. Kale, like many of the foods is is fine to feed but just not on a daily basis. I wish I knew of a site that would list what you are asking. Most of the vegetables that you are listing I have never heard of.
I wish I could be of more help.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Yes, but what I don't understand is, Kale is supposedly needed to be occasional only because of its high oxalic acid content, binding to calcium. However, its oxalic acid content is LOWER than turnip greens, collard greens, etc., which can be fed daily. So, if Kale can't be a staple because of its high oxalic acid content, then neither can collards or turnip greens, parsnips, the whole lot. I just don't understand why Kale is lumped with High oxallates group, when it's oxalic acid is 0.02 per 100 grams of leaves, which is much lower than most of the accepted staple foods.

Hello,

I haven't looked as I am a little tight on time, but does Kale have a high Phosphorus count? If the Ca:Ph ratio is way off kilter, that would account for the reason that the oxalic acid content has it listed. If the PH is much higher than the CA, that alone would counter balance the effectiveness of feeding the kale. If the oxalic acid is also taken into account, the calcium could be completely nutralized in accordance with the other nutrients. Does that make sense? lol

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I actually have Kale listed as a poisonous plant that is goitrogenic, now if Igs have a thyroid this would be a problem.

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

Kale is one of those old-theory things.

Kale is fine to feed more than occassionally. Yes, it has oxalates and goitrogens, but mixed with other greens it is fine. This "occassional" thing is necessary to prevent people from buying and feeding Kale as a cheap staple.

I mix some combination of collards, mustard, turnip and kale as the base of the diet. Then I shred (daily) butternut squash or some other veggie like carrots or broccolli, then sprinkle on a bit of soaked RepCal, dust with NutriBacDF (1 x per week) and viola! A healthful iguana salad.

As Merlin said, it's the mixing up of things that matters more. Spinach has a great iron content, but is listed as occassional, though very healthy for your iguana. So, feed spinach once in a while.

As long as the food is chopped appropriately and fed in a rotating fashion, your iguana will benefit from the nutrients and process out the "less than healthful" things.

Not sure if you have this one, but this is a great food chart: http://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm

I use kale almost weekly on the advise of people who are actively keeping and rehabilitating iguanas. Kale is cheap, a great source of Calcium and iguana like it.

On a side note Anthony, you must remember that by the sheer desire for you to get all the "good" information, your iguana is healthy and better cared for than 90% of the iguanas out there. Try not to obsess too much, you are doing a great job. ;-)

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Regards,
Dominick
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