The concept of monitoring the body's acid/alkali balance to maintain health has been around for nearly a century. Since that discovery, a number of diets proposing the reduction of acidity, and increase of alkalinity in the body have been put forward. In general, the alkaline (ash) diet involves eating more alkaline foods such as: fresh low-sugar fruits (with an emphasis on citrus), all vegetables, root vegetables, nuts, and legumes, while at the same time avoiding acid-forming foods such as: grains, dairy, meat, sugar, alcohol, and caffeine.

Such a diet is alleged to help maintain slight alkalinity of blood without stressing the body's regulators of acid-base homeostasis. It has been theorized that these changes can lead to a vast number of health benefits including: prevention of bone loss, cancer and allergies, while promoting weight loss and increased energy.

Acid-Base Balance in the Body: Catabolism of the Tissues
The standard North American diet is high in protein, fat, sugar and phosphorus from the consumption of meats, refined grains, junk foods, salty foods, alcohol, coffee and soft drinks, and this results in a chronic, low-grade, metabolic acidosis (an acidic state in the body). The acid-base balance (pH) of the cellular environment affects almost all of the body's metabolic processes. In order to maintain homeostasis, the body must put in extra work to counteract the acidosis from our diets to allow healthy cellular reactions to continue. In fact, our blood pH is tightly maintained in a narrow range between 7.35 and 7.45. Since this pH balance in the blood is so important, our bodies are willing to sacrifice most other tissues to maintain it. In order to neutralize acidity in the blood, our body uses a complex chain of different acid-base balancing reactions that are often catabolic to our other tissues. One example of this requires leeching calcium out of the bones and into the bloodstream to help neutralize the acidity. Another involves breaking down available protein (often from our muscles) to release ammonia ions to provide base to neutralize the acid. Unfortunately, increasing these levels in the blood stream result in their loss through the kidneys into the urine, further depleting the body. Helping to eliminate the acidity problem can potentially help your body maintain your bone density and your muscle mass.

The Role of Inflammation
Inflammation in the body creates an environment that is also increasingly acidic. That is a possible reason why we see bone disturbances that occur with: ageing, inflammation, fractures, tumours, anemia, kidney disease, diabetes, respiratory disease and smoking. Even beyond alkalinizing the body, in general, reducing inflammation in the body will help to increase overall health.

Acidic Foods vs Acid-Forming Foods
When considering acidity we think of foods that are directly acidic like lemons and grapefruits, but this is not their acid-base role in the body. It is not the physical acidity of the foods that matters as much as the effect they have on our bodies. It is the digestive process and what is absorbed and utilized by our body that matters. The digestion of animal proteins from meat and dairy products increases the acidity in our blood from the breakdown of sulfur-containing amino acids. A vegetarian diet has been clinically shown to promote alkaline outcomes in the body when compared with a non-vegetarian diet. The digestion of grains is also acid-forming in the body. It should be noted that increasing your fruit and vegetable intake can over-ride most of the deleterious effects from eating animal and grain products, so a strictly vegetarian diet is not necessary. It helps if you consider the problem to be insufficient alkaline instead of excess acid. So long as sufficient fruits and vegetable servings are consumed, their alkalinity will counteract a reasonable amount of acid-forming foods ingested.

How to Test Your Acid-Base Balance
The pH scale runs from zero to 14, with zero being full acid and 14 being fully alkaline. A pH of 7 is neutral, and is the pH of good quality water. It is relatively easy to test your own pH at home. There are widely available commercial pH strips or rolls that you can purchase online or from your local drug or health food store. You can tear off one strip and use it to test your first morning saliva or your second morning urine using the comparative chart it comes with. Trying to get your pH to be closer to neutral (between 6.2 and 7.4) is generally the goal, although exact aims may vary depending on any underlying health conditions or concerns you may have. If you are unsure of what your level should be, please consult your healthcare provider for more details.

Alkalinizing the Body
Changing the diet to foods that promote alkaline conditions helps to ease the body's burden and eliminate the need to pull calcium from the bones and protein from the muscles. It is theorized that an alkaline diet helps to reduce or eliminate low-grade metabolic acidosis, which allows the body's metabolic processes to continue at their optimal rates. Foods that contain higher levels of potassium are alkalinizing, as potassium can act as a natural buffer in the bloodstream. Ingesting more potassium salts is beneficial and can also help us avoid ingesting as much sodium, a mineral involved in hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Another way of increasing alkalinity is to ingest more sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in your diet, as bicarbonate is a strong base, and a direct means of alkalinizing your body. Fruits and vegetables are rich in potassium bicarbonate, and are an easy and natural way to alkalinize your diet. In addition to dietary changes, supplementation can be beneficial to increasing your alkalinity. Some examples of alkalinizing supplements are:

Calcium
This mineral plays an integral role in many processes in our body and many aspects of our metabolism. The role of greatest interest here is its use by the body in buffering the blood during metabolic acidosis. For more information on calcium supplementation, please click here and read "Acid-Base Balance in the Body" above.

Magnesium
Much like calcium, magnesium is a mineral that is integral to our normal enzymatic functioning and the working of our muscles. Supplementation can help to improve the absorption of calcium and further increase alkalinity.

Potassium
This mineral is one of the major contributors to alkalinizing the body. It is extremely beneficial, but supplementation must be done very carefully. Excessive amounts of potassium can result in heart palpitations and even cardiac arrest. For more information please click here.

Greens Powder
Because many people find it difficult to eat their 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, supplementing with a greens powder can help you to get most of the vitamins and nutrients you are missing out on and can also help to shift your body towards alkalinity.

Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is the molecule found in plants that gives the leaves their green colour. It closely resembles the structure of the oxygen-carrying molecule in our blood called hemoglobin. Ingestion of chlorophyll, much like the ingestion of vegetables can help to improve alkalinity in the body.

Controversy
The acid-alkali or acid-ash diet, and other similar diets have become the focus of significant attention in the last decade or so. Although the theory behind the health benefits of increasing alkalinity in the diet was initially developed nearly a century ago, there is still a lot of controversy regarding the health benefits to this day. There is positive research showing benefit to bone health (reduced bone mineral resorption) with an increase in dietary alkalinity. On the other hand, a 2011 meta-analysis combining the results from a large number of different studies found that despite this positive effect on bone health, there was no overall effect on reducing osteoporosis. As for the other benefits, there is very little reliable research available. The final answer here is still unclear, but improving your diet in a way that reduces acidity is in line with changes that have been well established to reduce inflammation and improve your overall health. Increasing fruits and vegetables has been long established as beneficial to health in a wide variety of different ways, and can easily be seen as a means of improving wellness.

Important Information
The acid-base balance in our bodies is under extremely tight metabolic control. Exceeding the recommended dosages of supplements can be detrimental to this balance. Certain supplements such as potassium can be extremely dangerous when abused, please follow label recommendations carefully. The effects of the alkalinizing during pregnancy and breast-feeding has not been sufficiently studied, so radical dietary and supplementation changes during these times should not be attempted without consulting a healthcare professional. It can be noted that eating 5-10 fruit and vegetable servings during pregnancy and breast-feeding has been shown to be extremely beneficial, and increased intake of these foods is encouraged.