Is an alkaline diet best for your health?

Many celebrities and lifestyle bloggers tout the benefits of an alkaline diet to balance acidity in the body. But is your diet really just one big chemistry experiment? Shayna Komar, RD, LD, a licensed and registered dietitian at Cancer Wellness, weighs in on the debate.

Komar explains that the alkaline diet suggests foods can affect your body's acidity or alkalinity (pH). On a scale of 0 to 14, a pH of 0 to 6 is considered acidic, while a pH of 7 to 14 is considered alkaline.

"There is some early evidence that eating a more alkaline food plan can help with weight loss, prevent kidney stones, keep bones and muscles strong, improve cardiovascular health and brain function, and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes," she says.

The benefits of eating alkaline foods

Some experts believe that increasing the body's alkalinity offers health benefits, including potential benefits related to cancer prevention and treatment. However, researchers are still unsure if eating alkaline-promoting foods makes a long-term difference.

Regardless, alkaline foods are among the healthiest choices you can make, which may explain the diet’s potential health benefits. They include:

• Most fruits and vegetables

• Many legumes and beans

• Some nuts and seeds

• Tofu

How acidic foods affect the body

"Highly acidic foods cause a state of acidosis in the body, in which illness and disease can manifest," explains Komar. "If you consume a Standard American Diet (SAD) lacking in vitamins and minerals that are found abundantly in raw fruits and vegetables, then your diet is not going to help your body stay strong to fight off infection and disease."

The following are considered acidic:

• Artificial sweeteners

• Dairy

• Eggs

• Liquor

• Meat and fish

• Most grains

• Processed or packaged foods

• Soft drinks

• Sugar

Komar recommends a whole-food, plant-based diet and limiting processed foods, but she says food cannot permanently change your body's pH. In addition, many acidic foods can be part of a healthy diet. Whole grains, low-fat dairy, and lean protein are good examples.

"Your body will balance itself out. If it didn't, your cells would stop working and you would die very quickly if left untreated," she explains. "For this reason, the body has many effective mechanisms to closely regulate the pH balance."

How to incorporate alkaline foods into your diet

Focus on eating more whole foods, especially fruits and vegetables, while limiting processed, sugary and fried foods.

"There is general agreement that improving a cancer patient's diet by cutting out fat, sugar and processed foods is extremely helpful," says Komar. "It can help them stay stronger, stay out of the hospital, keep weight stable and heal more quickly from surgery."

For the best results, she recommends making small changes in your diet over time.

"Start with one meal per day and begin to cut out the acidic foods in it," suggests Komar. "Sometimes breakfast or lunch is easier to modify rather than changing a whole meal for the family. For example, make a healthy smoothie for yourself for breakfast, or have soup or salad for lunch. Or think about having one meatless meal per week and work up to going meatless for an entire day each week."

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