This article challenges the alkaline diet as a treatment for osteoporosis and suggests that the diet has ignored the function of the kidneys that are responsible for regulating the blood pH. However, from an alkaline diet perspective, this aspect has been covered by showing that when the system becomes overloaded and under lot of pressure, it can’t coop anymore. Hence, minerals are extracted from the bones to compensate. Furthermore, if the pH balance is always maintained through the various functions of the body as the opponents of the diet claim, then why does the blood pH actually becomes acidic?
The Alkaline Diet: An Evidence-Based Review
Food Affects the pH of Your Urine, But Not Your Blood
It is critical for your health that the pH of your blood remains constant.
If it were to fall outside of the normal range, your cells would stop working and you would die very quickly if untreated.
For this reason, your body has many effective ways to closely regulate its pH balance. This is known as acid-base homeostasis.
In fact, it’s near impossible for food to change the pH value of blood in healthy people, although tiny fluctuations can occur within the normal range.
However, food can definitely change the pH value of your urine — though the effect is somewhat variable.
Excreting acids in your urine is one of the main ways your body regulates blood pH.
If you eat a large steak, your urine will be more acidic several hours later as your body removes the metabolic waste from your system.
Therefore, urine pH is a poor indicator of overall body pH and general health. It can also be influenced by other factors than diet.
