Alkaline Diet Health Benefits

Alkaline diets could provide you with a number of health benefits to support our overall wellness such as a reduced risk of some chronic diseases or to reduce high blood pressure. Alkalinity or pH level is very important. Much of life on Earth depends on an optimum pH in and around live organisms.

Human cellular pH is maintained at 7.4. This is thought to be the pH that human cells survive best at. An alkaline diet seeks to increase the number of alkaline foods being regularly eaten as part of a diet.

This is to maintain the overall pH level within the body in an alkaline range to support cellular wellbeing or survival and to provide potential health benefits as a result. This concept developed because of this and a recognition that many modern diets are rich in acidic foods that may not be healthy.

Areas of different organ systems have a different pH. For example the stomach is highly acidic to help initial digestion but the small intestine is slightly alkaline. The cell layer near the outer side of the stomach is a lot more alkaline though. This prevents lasting cell damage.

Alkaline pH is regarded as having more healing properties than acidic pH because of the natural 7.4 pH that human cells are thought to survive best at. Some of the other potential health benefits of eating a more alkaline diet are thought to be reduced muscle wasting and improvements in cardiovascular health.

In this article we will consider the potential health benefits of an alkaline diet with an accompanying alkaline diet foods list or chart.

How An Alkaline Diet Could Benefit Our Health

The pH of Human cells is a value formed from the ratio of acids to bases or alkaline molecules within the body. Acids lower this value and alkaline molecules increase this pH value. The cells of our bodies survive best at a pH of around 7.4. This is a slightly alkaline pH.

The concept of an alkaline diet has formed around this basis. Such diets encourage increased consumption of alkaline foods as part of a healthier overall diet that may provide us with more health benefits.

Some areas of body organs such as the skin and stomach have a mildly acidic or acidic pH. This is to help digestion or kill harmful pathogens. In contrast the intestines are mildly alkaline with alkalinity being more associated with cellular healing because this is a more optimum pH on the whole for us a lifeform.

Many popularised foods within our diet are acidic and in some cases this may not be the best thing for our health. This is a key reason why this sort of diet has developed. There has been a very considerable shift in dietary pH when our diets are compared to our hunter gatherer ancestors. Our diets have considerably less magnesium, potassium and bicarbonate.

Some people decide to eat alkaline foods in variation with their current diet and others decide to try only alkaline foods for a lengthy time period. You know when you have consumed an acidic meal from the lasting taste which you may get from eating junk foods.

Potential Health Benefits Of An Alkaline Diet

The science behind the alkaline diet or dietary concept checks out. One issue with alkaline diets is the lack of clinical studies to verify the health benefits of eating an alkaline diet for a lengthy period of time.

One recent review of the wealth of research into alkaline diets has covered many of the potential health benefits of an alkaline diet. While high protein diets do not seem to carry much of an influence on blood pH or chemistry there seems to be a gradual loss of acid base regulation with age and this may have health effects.

Alkaline Diet And Magnesium

Some fruits and vegetables are grown in more alkaline soils that are richer in magnesium and calcium. Foods that are more alkaline are associated with a higher magnesium content. An increase in magnesium intake could be a potential health benefit of an alkaline diet rich in certain fruits or vegetables.

Magnesium is important for healthy muscle contractions and is a cofactor of various enzymes. More bioavailable magnesium may also improve activation of vitamin D. This could have health benefits for vitamin D hormonal signalling.

Research backs this. A correction of metabolic acidosis or acid build up with bicarbonate during kidney failure supports healthier vitamin D and parathyroid hormone levels.

Vitamin D is associated with bone formation. Improvements in the ratio of potassium to sodium in the blood may also have benefits for bone health. There is also some research to suggest that chronic back pain improves with supplementation of alkaline minerals which could be because of vitamin D and magnesium enzyme activation.

Alkaline Diet And Growth Hormone

Another potential health benefit of an alkaline diet may be growth hormone support. This could improve heart health and could also affect cognitive function.

Supporting acidosis or acidic build up with potassium citrate or bicarbonate has been shown to improve levels of growth hormone. As the name suggests this supports improved cellular growth and this has also been observed in postmenopausal women.

This can also affect calcium signalling and a 5% reduction in calcium loss as total bone calcium was observable after a 3 year study with potassium bicarbonate. Other studies have found that bicarbonate increases the alkali content of a diet and can help to reduce bone loss.

Alkaline Diet And Muscle Wasting

A three year study showed that an increase in potassium rich fruits and vegetables as part of an alkaline diet could prevent muscle wasting via changes in the ratio of potassium to sodium.

Chronic kidney failure results in metabolic acidosis and a fast breakdown of skeletal muscle. Correcting acidosis or acidic build up with an alkaline diet may support the preservation of muscle mass.

Alkaline Diet And Blood Pressure

Changes to this ratio of potassium and sodium could also reduce high blood pressure. This would add some potential health benefits to an alkaline diet such as reduced risk of strokes and hypertension.

High sodium diets result in high blood pressure and can cause osteoporosis in women. Increases in dietary potassium from an alkaline diet may assist with modulating blood pressure and the excretion of calcium caused by too high dietary sodium.

An alkaline diet may therefore reduce risk of chronic diseases and the associated mortality risk of these that are affecting the aging population.

Many of these potential health benefits need to be clinically assessed but there is a lot of reasonable research to back the stated benefits of an alkaline diet.

Alkaline Diet Foods List Or Chart

We have produced a food list or chart with alkaline diet foods for those who are interested in eating more of an alkaline diet because of the potential health benefits. We have also added some of the most acidic foods too.

The alkaline or acid producing potential of these foods within the body has been calculated scientifically. This has been done via measured PRAL values which indicate whether a food is going to produce an alkaline or acidic effect within the body. A negative PRAL means that the food on the alkaline diet food list or chart will form a base or alkaline pH within the body. The higher the PRAL the more acidic the food will be.

The PRAL or acid base value of each food is calculated from amounts of nutrients such as magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium, chloride, phosphorus and sulfate. Most of the negative PRAL or alkaline foods on the alkaline diet food list or chart are within the fruits and vegetables category.

Foods with the highest acidic potential include cheeses, meats, fish and grains. The pH of the area where a food such as fruit or vegetables are grown carries a big effect on the overall mineral content of a food. For example acidic soil has a lower calcium and magnesium content. This is something to bear in mind with reference to our alkaline diet foods list or chart.

Alkaline Diet Foods List

Below is our list of the foods with the highest alkaline and acidic potentials within the body based on a calculated PRAL value.

Top 5 Acidic Foods List

Here we have also listed some of the top acidic foods you may encounter in your diet according to their PRAL value.

An alkaline diet has the potential to offer various health benefits such as reduced cardiovascular disease risk and an improved intake of key minerals such as magnesium. Some key foods to avoid are highly processed cheeses and spinach is an alkaline food to consider including in your diet.

Summary

Eating a more alkaline diet or alkaline foods could provide you with some health benefits that may support overall wellness.

Life on Earth depends on maintaining an optimum pH. The optimum pH for human cells to thrive is 7.4. Areas of some organs operate at or produce an acidic pH such as the stomach or skin. This is to kill pathogens and assist with digestion. The intestines are mainly alkaline.

An alkaline diet seeks to increase the number of alkaline foods being regularly eaten as part of a diet. Alkaline diets are thought to encourage a more optimal pH within the body that could provide potential health benefits.

Modern diets are thought to be more acidic or less abundant in magnesium, potassium and bicarbonate. An alkaline pH is thought to carry more healing properties than an acidic pH because of the natural optimum 7.4 pH.

One potential benefit of alkaline foods is that they may have a higher magnesium content. This could improve symptoms of back pain and improve neuromuscular functioning. Higher vitamin D levels are associated with alkaline diets and this may support bone health. An alkaline diet could also support the production of growth hormone.  

Diets containing alkaline rich foods may reduce muscle wasting via changes to the potassium and sodium ratio. Acidic conditions promote the fast breakdown of skeletal muscle. Potassium also influences blood pressure and alkaline rich diets could reduce risk of strokes and hypertension. Acid base regulation slows as we age.

Some alkaline diet foods include spinach, orange juice and apricots. Acidic foods include processed or reduced fat cheese.

An alkaline diet may offer various health benefits to our overall wellbeing and reduce risk of some diseases.

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