Watch Alkaline Diet Video

The term alkaline diet describes a group of loosely related diets based on the belief that certain foods can affect the acidity of bodily fluids, including the urine or blood, and can therefore be used to treat or prevent diseases. Acidity is measured by the pH level of the bodily fluids. The relationship between diet and acid-base homeostasis, or the regulation of the acid-base status of the...  MORE

The term alkaline diet describes a group of loosely related diets based on the belief that certain foods can affect the acidity of bodily fluids, including the urine or blood, and can therefore be used to treat or prevent diseases. Acidity is measured by the pH level of the bodily fluids. The relationship between diet and acid-base homeostasis, or the regulation of the acid-base status of the body, has been studied for decades, though the medical applications of this theory have largely focused on changing the acidity of urine. Traditionally, this diet has advocated for avoiding meat, poultry, cheese, and grains in order to make the urine more alkaline, changing the environment of the urine to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections and kidney stones. However, difficulties in effectively predicting the effects of this diet have led to medications, rather than diet modification, as the preferred method of changing urine pH. The "acid-ash" hypothesis has been considered a risk factor for osteoporosis by various scientific publications, though more recently, the available weight of scientific evidence does not support this hypothesis. LESS