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The Alkaline Diet: An Evidence-Based Review
Written by Joe Leech, MS on June 9, 2017
The alkaline diet seems a bit too good to be true.

Proponents of this diet suggest that replacing acid-forming foods with alkaline foods can improve health.

They even claim that it can help fight serious diseases like cancer.

There are actually quite a few people who swear by this diet and claim miraculous results...

But is there any good evidence behind the alkaline diet? Let's have a look.


What Is the Alkaline Diet?
The alkaline diet is also known as the acid-alkaline diet or alkaline ash diet.

It is based around the idea that the foods you eat can alter the acidity or alkalinity (the pH value) of your body.

Let me explain how that works...

When you metabolise foods and extract the energy (calories) from them, you are actually burning the foods, except that it happens in a slow and controlled fashion.

When you burn foods, they actually leave an ash residue, just like when you burn wood in a furnace.

As it turns out, this ash can be acidic or alkaline (or neutral)... and proponents of this diet claim that this ash can directly affect the acidity of your body.

So if you eat foods with acidic ash, it makes your body acidic. If you eat foods with alkaline ash, it makes your body alkaline. Neutral ash has no effect. Simple.

Acid ash is thought to make you vulnerable to illness and disease, whereas alkaline ash is considered protective. By choosing more alkaline foods, you should be able to "alkalize" your diet and improve health.

Food components that leave an acidic ash include protein, phosphate and sulfur, while alkaline components include calcium, magnesium, and potassium (1, 2).

Certain food groups are considered acidic, alkaline or neutral:

Acidic: Meat, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, grains and alcohol.
Neutral: Natural fats, starches and sugars.
Alkaline: Fruits, nuts, legumes and vegetables.
BOTTOM LINE:
According to proponents of the alkaline diet, the ash left from the burning of foods can directly affect the acidity or alkalinity of your body.
Regular pH Levels in the Body
When talking about the alkaline diet, it is important to understand the meaning of the pH value.

Put simply, the pH value is a measure of how acidic or alkaline something is.

The pH value ranges from 0 to 14:

0-7 is acidic.
7 is neutral.
7–14 is alkaline (alkaline is often called basic).
Many proponents of this diet suggest that people monitor the pH value of their urine using test strips, making sure that it is alkaline (pH over 7) and not acidic (below 7).

However... it's important to note that the pH value varies greatly within the body. Some parts are acidic, others are alkaline. There is no set level.

The stomach is loaded with hydrochloric acid, giving it a pH value between 2 and 3.5 (highly acidic). This is necessary to break down food.

On the other hand, human blood is always slightly alkaline, with a pH between 7.35 and 7.45.

The blood pH value falling out of the normal range is very serious and can be fatal if untreated. However... this only happens during certain disease states, and has absolutely nothing to do with the foods you eat from day to day.