Alkalizing foods seem to monopolize most of the informative articles that embrace the trend of natural therapies and counter-information, forgetting or even discrediting the opinion of official medicine.
Alkalizing foods: alternative medicine and counter-information
Nowadays, the champions of counter-information catalyze the interest of millions of individuals who are disoriented and frightened by the problems of current society, to whom they blame their condition: just as it is very easy to blame the system for the failures and personal failures, even on the health front it is comfortable to point thefinger at others.
Alkalizing foods: what they are and why they are recommended
Most people confuse acidic and alkalizing foods with the concept of food pH. Thus, according to this erroneous view , lemon juice would be a particularly acidic food, when in reality it is one of the best known alkalizing foods, so much so that it is even recommended in therapy to alkalize the urine and prevent – in predisposed subjects – the formation of stones kidneys of urates, calcium oxalate and cystine .
The alkalinity or acidity of a food is attributed not on the basis of the pH of the food itself, but on that of the solution in which its ashes are dispersed, therefore on the basis of the pH of the inorganic residues, not metabolised by the body. Thus, to take the example of lemon again, the organic acids which determine the acidity of this food are metabolised by the body, while the basic inorganic residues are excreted unchanged in the urine, basifying them.
According to this rule, vegetables in general are alkalizing foods, while those of animal origin are acidifying. The consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables should therefore be encouraged , and that of cereals, dairy products , meat , sugars , alcohol , eggs , coffee and mushrooms discouraged.
As for the potential benefits, proponents of the alkaline diet argue that a diet based on the consumption of 70-80% alkalizing foods prevents many of the diseases of well-being that afflict the population – obesity , allergies , osteoporosis , some forms of cancer – ensuring greater energy and vitality.
All these benefits are not scientifically proven; moreover, under normal circumstances, the alkaline diet has not been shown to be able to produce a significant variation in blood pH levels (moreover rather constant and subject to numerous control mechanisms, particularly effective and independent of the diet, first of all respiration ).
Alkaline Diet: What’s Good?
Beyond the rather “imaginative” theories (because they lack solid scientific foundations) on which it was built, the alkaline diet must at least be given credit for promoting the consumption of fresh vegetables, often lacking in Western diets compared to what is recommended by nutritionists . and to discourage that – often excessive – of meat, sausages, cured meats, simple sugars and alcohol . Scrolling through the list of alkalizing and alkaline foods shown on this site in English, it is understood how such a food model can actually promote the health of the organism, with clear and immediate benefits in the transition from a typically Western diet to the so-called alkalizing one. These benefits, however, are not to be attributed to the concept of acid and alkaline, but to the extraordinary mine of friendly substances contained in fresh vegetables, together with a reduced intake of saturated fats , sugars, sodium chloride and alcohol. Reading between the lines, this list seems largely acceptable and in line with the international guidelines of the new food pyramid ; unfortunately it limits the consumption of very important foods in human nutrition, such as fish and dairy productslean , only because they are considered acidifying. We then proceed with blinders pursuing an abstract concept (that of alkalizing and acidifying) instead of forming a solid food culture, which helps to make the most correct nutritional choices by facing the new food trends with a critical spirit.
