The Myth of the Acid-Alkaline Theory
Reader question:
“I have a question about keeping the body in PH balance and an alkaline state by eating certain foods that keep the body alkaline and avoiding acid producing foods.
I’m wondering what LBC’s views are on this? I just see it so often and one if my old doctors in Australia told me I needed to alkalize myself.”
Sir LBC:
There is a school of thought or a belief out there that you can alkalize your blood by tipping your dietary balance in favour of alkaline- over acid-forming food; the Acid-Alkaline Theory.
Unfortunately, the evidence doesn’t support this and measuring your urine or saliva and seeing it test more “alkaline” on pH strips is not indicative of the status of blood pH or the overall pH of the human body, which is very, very tightly controlled by the human body. Of course, all the foods on the “alkaline list” are generally healthy foods that we should be eating in abundance, but the positive effects people see on health when consuming more fruits and vegetables are not because of their alkanalizing effect on blood or whole-body pH.
Chris Kresser, digs deep (with literature references) into this issue to see if there is anything substantive to these claims of the acid-alkaline theory having any effect on things like bone health, muscle wasting, cancer as well as a few other effects, in the following two-part article. Take the time to read these two entries as they’re very thorough.