Why does eating spinach make my teeth feel dry and scratchy?

I eat a lot of spinach and I've felt this, too. I also felt it once after eating a whole pineapple (I was in college, what can I say?). Anyway, the pineapple thing I explained as being due to its acidic nature. I'm not sure about spinach.

Try adding minced steamed garlic, lemon juice and grated nutmeg. I eat tons of spinach and have never noticed anything. Only w. cooked asparagus :-d

I always assumed that the spinach leaves some sort of residue on one's teeth. I get it from raw as well as cooked spinach.

try cooking it with canola oil or olive oil and garlic. Good question on why it is scratchy.

I feel it too--but I don't know why.

wow I eat it alot mostly raw and I have never felt that

I think it retains some of the dirt from the garden .

my guess too --- spinach particularly has lots of sand/dust on it. the only way i've avoided this is by washing it incredibly thoroughly before eating. my grandma's trick is to put it in a bowl of water (and i guess shake and stir it like crazy) then wait a while and the sand will all settle to the bottom, and you can ever so gently remove the spinach from the top.

I read recently that all vegetables should be ingested with a bit of oil, hence salad dressings, as it induces proper digestion; plant matter with a bit of fat. Green plant matter is fibrous and dry so it sticks to anything, not just teeth.

Yes. Yuck. I definitely know the feeling. My guess is it's the oxalic acid, an irritant to the mouth and the digestive tract. It can really scratch the place up, especially if you eat it with milk products. During digestion, oxalic acid can combine with other molecules to form shardy, crystalline nasties that contribute to kidney stones (a.k.a. calcium oxalate), gout or arthritis. Especially if you are genetically predisposed to those conditions.

Oh my gosh it has nothing to do with dirt or sand or dust being on the spinach! It is only because spinach contains oxalic acid, which combines with the calcium in your saliva to produce the wierd feeling on your teeth. Rhubarb, chard and beetroot leaves do the same thing.

THAT is HILARIOUS. I googled “spinach teeth” (or something of the sort) to see if I could find it out, and I’ll be darned…someone else has the same sensation. Who’d thunk?

I’m a little concerned about the acid/kidneystone, arthritis thing. Any suggestions on how to avoid this problem and still gain the benefits of eating spinach?

:-)

PS: I like the idea of cooking with a little oil and nutmeg. Sounds yummy!

The GREAT spinach triumvirate is oil, freshly grated nutmeg and minced garlic.

wow, i’m not the only one whoe experiences “spinach teeth”!

I ate a larger than normal amount today, so I’m feeling the dryness now.
Note to self, if you don’t wanna add oil to spinach, then eat less than 100grams. Maybe there’s only so much oxalic acid one can take before too much calcium oxalate is formed.
It’s quite clever that the dryness stops us eating before we start getting kidney stones!

on second thought..forget the last sentence…

But do you think there’s a reason why we get a strange scratchy, dry feeling on our teeth? Or maybe there doesn’t need to be a reason..it just happens.