Are You Alkaline or Acidic? Test Your Diet With This Quick Trick

• Dr. Michael Greger
• February 14, 2014

In my video Alkaline Diets, Animal Protein, and Calcium Loss I presented evidence challenging the notion that our body is buffering the acid formed from our diet with calcium from our bones. How then is our body neutralizing the acid? Maybe with our muscles! Our blood gets more acidic as we age and our kidney function declines, and this may be a reason we lose muscle mass as we get older. As a pair of researchers note: “The modern Western diet based on animal products generates an acid load that may cause a lifespan state of unnoticed and growing metabolic acidosis.” This chronic low-level diet-dependent metabolic acidosis might contribute to the progressive shrinking of our muscle mass as we age.
Muscle wasting appears to be an adaptive response to acidosis. When our muscles break down, amino acids are released into the bloodstream. Our liver can then take these amino acids and make something called glutamine, which our kidneys can use to get rid of excess acid. And indeed, in a three year study I profile in the above video, those over age 65 eating alkaline diets were better able to preserve their muscle mass, which the researchers think may be because the alkaline-producing fruits and vegetables helped relieve the mild acidosis that occurs with the ingestion of the standard American diet.
So what should we think about the latest review’s question, “Does an alkaline diet benefit health?” If the question is “Does a diet low in meat, eggs, and dairy—all acid-producing—and high in fruits and vegetables with lots of dark green leafies benefit health?” then of course the answer is yes, an alkaline diet benefits health. But if the question is “Does it matter what our “peeH” is (whether our urine is acid or alkaline) regardless of what actually goes into your mouth?” then the answer is… still yes, but the accepted benefits of having alkaline urine appear limited to two areas: lower risk of kidney stones and better uric acid clearance.


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