From Left Field: What I have learned about acid/alkaline diets

Early today I got involved in a bit of a Facebook discussion concerning alkaline water and the acid/alkaline diet fad.  It started out with a friend posting a simple video concerning what to do with leftover turkey (ended up a nice soup which looked nummy) and making a home made alkalized water (what some also call mineralized water). 

Recently many health conscious pages have been also touted these homemade concoctions as well, most have labeled them as "fruit water," "mineralized water," or plain ole flavored water;  all use these titles basically as an alternative to drinking soda.  Something I am all for though a horrible example of as I sit here chugging a 2 liter down like nothing.  (I am still tweaking and experimenting trying to find a palatable alternative to soda.  Problem is getting decent ingredients where I live, just haven't found that right combination just yet.)  So as a whole I am not adverse to these homemade flavored waters, it is when, what I consider, bad health claims come creeping in that I become concerned.  Let me explain,,,

Back in 2004 an individual whom I have admired was diagnosed with breast cancer.  In an interview she mentioned the acid/alkaline theory of dieting.  That was the first time I remember hearing those words.   What I don't remember, is what influence said diet played in her role to recovery.  That person was Melissa Etheridge, a singer-songwriter whose music I love.  I remember not long after that looking for any information concerning said diet; one of the few that I follow with any regularity.  (The low carb/no carb being another, and more recently the paleo-diet.)

Over the past 9 years I have read quite a bit, so when I see a statement such as this (from another individual in the conversation),

Are you saying that alkalized water has no benefits because it's immediately turned acidic in the stomach…Tums and antacids help people, why not alkalized water to act almost as a Tums tablet. [Corrected for punctuation]

or this

So consuming high alkaline foods and water doesn't put your body in a more alkaline state?  I've read where people use the pH strips and measure before and after a change to diet and see a difference. Wouldn't that indicate the body is in a more alkaline state if the pH measurements of the body waste change?  [Corrected for punctuation]

Red flags begin to fly, and here is why.

First the initial friend that posted this caught me a bit by surprise, just by mentioning "alkalized water."  It was not a phrase I was expecting to come from his fingers.  In response I wrote a very simplistic view of digestion,

Considering our stomachs are acidic by nature, no food can change its acidity level.  This now acid laden "food"  then enters our intestines where secretions from our pancreas neutralize the stomach acids.  It matters not what you eat, the food in the stomach is acidic and the food in the intestines is alkaline. [Rephrased for better clarity]

In other words, our stomach is an acidic environment (a pH of about 3). Food enters the stomach (regardless of its acid or alkaline-producing qualities and is immediately combined with hydrochloric acid (HCL) before it enters the digestive tract.  Very bad for the body IF there wasn't a naturally occurring means for the body to reduce/eliminate that acidity. Lo and behold, guess what the pancreas does, it secretes a slurry to cancels out the acid the stomach has just introduced into the rest of the body. So, regardless of the food you have just eaten, it will be combined with a highly acid substance and then subsequently a highly alkaline substance.

Now compare what I wrote above, which is accepted by the medical community, scientists, and nutritionists as being the correct mechanization of the digestive process to this:

Won’t my stomach acid render alkaline water consumption useless?

No. There is no hydrochloric acid pouch in our body, and the stomach wall makes sodium bicarbonate to alkalize our food not digest our food. HCL is only produced when we eat or drink acid-forming foods and drinks and is balanced in equal proportion by sodium bicarbonate production.,,,

Before pointing to the obvious, I will say this, the above quote is taken directly from a company web page (Alkaline Ionized Water & Water Ionizer Myths Debunked) that touts the benefits of water ionizers and alkaline ionized water.  Their contraption sells for $1200+, the "why" of my concern.  I do not want to see anyone waste $1200 on something that does not/will not provide any benefits.

Now back to their incorrect information,,, Uhm, ok that whole statement is incorrect.  No, the stomach does not produce sodium bicarbonate; it's an acidic environment.  No alkalinization does not occur in the stomach; it occurs in the intestines.  No, HCL is not just produced when we eat or drink acid-forming foods and drinks; HCL is  "always" present in the stomach.

As for the Tums analogy, ",,,Tums and antacids help people, why not alkalized water to act almost as a Tums tablet."

Although antacids do briefly alter stomach acidity, one could devour a whole bottle, but our stomach's acid content would return to its normal state. Our bloodstream and organs control acidity in a very narrow range, anything that changed acidity in our bodies would make us very sick and could even kill.

Think of it this way, what happens when you hold your breath? Carbon dioxide accumulates in your bloodstream very rapidly and your blood turns acidic. Do it too long you will become uncomfortable or even pass out, which forces you to start breathing again and the pH returns to normal. Or if your kidneys are damaged and cannot regulate the acidity of your bloodstream, chemical reactions stop, poisons accumulate in your bloodstream, and you die.

The main premise behind this diet, when we eat “acid-forming” products our bodies turn “acidic” and illness results. To compensate we then leach calcium from our bones. If we continue to maintain a high acid diet, our bodies will shed calcium and we can end up with osteoporosis, and other chronic diseases.   On the face of it this may make sense, BUT proponents of the acid/alkaline diet ignore one key fact, the kidneys, not bone, regulate blood pH.

When we digest things like protein, the acids are buffered by bicarbonate ions in the blood.  This produces carbon dioxide and salts, which are exhaled through the lungs, and are excreted by the kidneys respectively.  This process is cyclic and is how the body maintains the pH of the blood.  As the kidneys produce ‘new’ bicarbonate ions, which are returned to the blood to replace the bicarbonate that was initially used to buffer the acid.  No involvement from the bones whatsoever.

A second premise one may come across centers around this question posed to me:

I've read where people use the pH strips and measure before and after a change to diet and see a difference. Wouldn't that indicate the body is in a more alkaline state if the pH measurements of the body waste change?

Yes and no.  This is an apple to oranges comparison. 

There are two places where an individual can test their own pH, saliva and urine. The problem with that is the urine and saliva do not reflect the OVERALL pH balance of your body. Think of it this way,  you can get a pH reading of 6 via urine or saliva (some have reported lower) BUT if your overall body pH was that low you be dead.

In regards to body waste, ALL foods will leave an end-product (alkaline ash/acidic ash), and only our urine can have its acidity changed. BUT since urine is contained in the bladder it does not affect the pH of any other part of your body. It is a sealed system so to speak.

Here is a bit more in depth answer.  Yes, foods can influence our urine pH.  No, foods don’t influence our blood pH (overall body pH).  Here is why,,,

All foods leave behind acid or alkaline ash which is determined by the relative content of acid-forming components (ie. phosphate and sulfur) and alkalis (ie. calcium, magnesium, and potassium.).  In general, animal products and grains are acid forming, while fruits and vegetables are alkali forming.   So if we have, let's say, steak and eggs for breakfast, our urine will be more acidic;  if we have a kale smoothie it will tend towards alkaline.  But bare in mind, our urine is the waste dump of metabolic processes, our bladders are the sealed storage container. But measuring the urinary pH to estimate of the blood’s pH  is nonsensical, because your blood pH does not change unless you’re seriously, seriously, ill.  (Keep that thought in you mind.)


Proponents of the alkaline diet have put forth ideas about how an acidic diet harms our health. The claim  that we can change the pH of our blood by changing the foods we eat, and that acidic blood causes disease (while alkaline blood prevents it), is not true. As mentioned above, the body tightly regulates the pH of our blood and we cannot influence it by changing our diet. Eat a whole bottle of Tums and see how well you feel afterwards.

[There are metabolic diseases, acidosis and its counter-part alkalosis, that are real afflictions caused by pathological conditions such as chronic renal insufficiency.  This diet in no way addresses these issues, nor does my response.  I am aware of them due to my diabetes and a related issue of diabetic ketoacidosis, hence my overall interest in this particular diet.]

One final note and I'll shut up.  This was not brought up in the preceding discussion, but was mentioned in passing by another friend a few weeks ago.  It goes something like this, "cancer cells grow faster in an acidic environment."

There are two problems with this statement (besides not being able to change blood pH), first these are TEST TUBE studies.  Second, while it is true that cancer cells cannot survive in an alkaline environment but neither can any of the other cells in your body.  OK I lied there is a third issue, it is true that an acidic environment causes cancer cells to grow BUT it’s not the acidic environment that causes the cancer; it’s the cancer that causes the acidic environment.

This is general knowledge folks.  If you trust bio-chemistry, medicine and nutrition etc. it is easy to see the bunk involved in these claims.  If on the other hand you have a distrust, for whatever reason, then go ahead and spend $1200+.  But a word of caution:

Can’t I make my own alkaline water with lemon juice, baking soda or pH drops?

Technically the pH level of water can be modified slightly by adding certain substances, however they will not necessarily reach the optimal pH level of 9.5. More importantly, alkalizing the water without the use of a water ionizer will not reduce the ORP, so the water will still be oxidizing to the body and create free radicals which destroy cells. Ionization is also the only way to microcluster the water, which allows it to hydrate up to six times better than non-ionized water, and detoxify cells more thoroughly. For these same reasons, drinking alkaline water from a non-electric ionizer or by making your own with alkaline water pouches and the like will not provide the bulk of the benefits that an electric water ionizer does.

Even they say making your own isn't good enough!!  I wonder why?

[Please note:  This post is based on 8 years of digging for information for personal use. I regret that when I gathered this information I never thought I would be conveying it in any meaningful way and therefore I do not have citations for this information.  Basically these are my "notes" re-written, I am not the originator of any of this information.  Also note this is not medical advice!!]