One of the newest diet crazes these days is the alkaline diet. With celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Kelly Ripa, and even Tom Brady swearing by its benefits it’s hard not to wonder if there’s something to it.  The alkaline diet is based on the premise that the foods we eat leave behind an ash when metabolized and that ash is either acidic or alkaline which in turn either makes our body either more alkaline or more acidic. Proponents of the diet claim that by eating foods that create a more alkaline environment in your body the diet can help treat or prevent cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, promote weight loss, and help improve energy levels. This all sounds great but is there any science behind it? Will eating these certain food make your body more alkaline and less acidic? Will it promote weight loss?

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Well first let’s start with what you can and cannot eat. The alkaline diet is more about what you can’t eat than what you can eat. Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, grains, and most nuts are off limits with the exception of almonds and chestnuts. Also off limits are processed foods, white flour, wheat, sugar, honey, molasses, caffeine, milk, artificial sweeteners and alcohol. Fruits and vegetables are allowed except cranberries, prunes, and plums. As you can see, this turns out to be a pretty restrictive diet. It is more or less a vegan diet as there are no dairy or animal products but does seem to make some allowances for fish occasionally. If you can get over the hurdle of being able to stick to such a restrictive diet is there any truth to it and is there any benefit?

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Claim: Eating certain foods make your body more alkaline or more acidic.

As far as this one goes there is really nothing that supports this claim. While it is true that the metabolism of certain foods do leave behind an acid or an alkaline ash, there is no proof that this ash has any effect on changing your body’s pH. Meats, and other animal products do leave behind an acid ash and fruits and vegetables leave behind an alkaline ash. Pure fats, raw sugars, and starches are neutral. The foods you eat can change the pH of your urine. So, if you were to eat a lot of fruits and veggies for lunch your urine would be more alkaline than if you ate a big juicy steak, but what you eat has little to no effect on your blood pH. There are some exceptions, if you ingested high doses of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) you could temporarily increase your blood pH, making it more alkaline, but you would probably be spending a lot of time in the bathroom as well. There are also other times were the blood becomes more acidic due to reduced kidney function or other health problems but this is not due to one meal or eating certain foods. It’s normally a sign of a larger health problem and usually requires medical intervention.  So, absent some type of renal failure or other illness the body is very efficient at keeping your blood pH between 7.35-7.45 and what you eat is not going to have an effect on that.

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Claim: Eating an alkaline diet can promote weight loss, increase muscle mass, fight cancer, heart disease and improve energy.

These are some pretty ambitious claims. One of the most common claims about the alkaline diet is that it can cure or help prevent cancer. This is based on the belief that cancer can only grow in an acidic environment. The premise is that being on a diet that promotes an alkaline environment you would either prevent the growth of cancer or eliminate existing cancer cells. While it’s true that cancer cells do tend to grow better in an acidic environment it isn’t true that they are incapable of growing in an alkaline environment. We’ve also already talked about how food isn’t what causes a change in the pH of body tissue or blood. While eating more fruits and vegetables that contain cancer-fighting antioxidants certainly could help prevent or reduce the risks of cancer, thus far nothing supports the claim that it has anything to do with the alkaline promoting properties of these foods.