- The alkaline diet is based around the
idea that what we eat can affect how
acidic or alkaline our body is.
This, in turn, is said to affect many
aspects of health from
Osteoporosis to cancer.
But it's not true.
This is why.
(xylophone chiming)
Now don't get me wrong 'cause
I really wish the alkaline diet were true.
Because then it would be so much easier to
treat so many of these conditions.
But the whole concept is really flawed.
Just to cover the fundamentals,
the PH value is a measure of how acidic
or alkaline a fluid is.
And it ranges from zero to 14, seven is neutral.
Higher than seven is alkaline.
And lower than seven is classified as acidic.
As an example, the stomach contains acid which
gives it a PH value between 2 and 3.5
which is highly acidic.
Now this is necessary to break down food.
On the other hand human blood always
maintains a PH between 7.35 and 7.45.
If it goes outside this range then
you get sick really fast and then you die.
That's why one of the main functions of
our kidneys is to regulate blood PH.
Which is why a urine PH can vary quite dramatically.
The amazing human body doing its thing.
Proponents of the alkaline diet have
attempted to give the foods we eat a
PH rating as well based on the compounds
they produce when digested.
In the alkaline diet these compounds
are referred to as ash.
So if it's ash determines if it's classified
as acidic or alkaline.
And this image I found on mind body green
illustrated this theory with
acidic forming foods on the left
and alkaline on the right.
Although they have very conveniently left out
the nutritious foods on the acidic side
like meat, seafood, dairy, legumes, nuts
and some whole grains.
Slightly misleading.
But as you can see the so called alkaline foods
are actually pretty healthy because
they're fruits and vegetables and water.
These are nutritious foods that are
not calorie dense.
But the health properties of those foods
has nothing to do with alkaline ash.
In fact acids are actually some of
the most important building blocks of life.
We have amino acids in the proteins you eat.
Omega-3 fatty acids.
And even your DNA.
So what does human studies say
about the alkaline diet?
Over a view of 55 previous studies that
looked at the relationship between
how much dietary acid we consume
and occurrence of osteoporosis
concluded, there is no evidence that
an alkaline diet is protective of bone health.
Now this makes sense considering
high protein diets which are acid forming.
Are typically linked with healthier bones
not weaker bones.
What about cancer which favors
an acidic environment?
Firstly, as mentioned before what we eat
can not influence our blood PH
or the PH of our bodily tissues.
And secondly, even if we assume it could
cancer cells are still able to grow in
an alkaline environment.
Now it's true that tumors grow faster
in acidic environments.
But the tumors actually create
this acidity themselves.
So it's not the acidic environment or diet
that creates the cancer, it's the cancer
that creates the acidic environment.
The most comprehensive review available on
the relationship between so called
diet induced acidosis and cancer concluded
that there is just no direct link.
So then why do people insist the
alkaline diet works?
It's because we constantly
hear and read miracle stories, like this.
In 2009, naturopathic Dr. Robert Young wrote
"Kim Tinkham reverses her breast cancer
"with the PH miracle diet.
"The following YouTube is of Kim Tinkham,
"one of my PH Miracles during an
"interview on the Oprah Show in March 2007
"regarding her choice to heal herself of
"breast cancer using the
"PH Miracle Lifestyle and Diet.
"It took her nine months to reverse
"her condition from breast cancer
"to no cancer."
What you don't hear is that Kim actually
died the following year in 2010.
All that said, the alkaline diet
does encourage a high consumption of
fruits and vegetables while
restricting junk food.
So it's pretty healthy in that sense.
And you certainly won't be unhealthy
by following it.
But it has absolutely nothing to do with
you or your diet being acidic or alkaline.
For more information studies you can
click the link in the description and
be sure to give this video a thumbs up
if you found it useful.