In fact you have 'alkaline buffers' in your body that your body can
utilise to neutralise acids. These buffers are certain minerals
(calcium, sodium and potassium for example). The largest storages
of these minerals are in your bones. That’s why chronically acid diet
depletes these minerals and weakens your bones.
It is important that we maintain a balance body pH of ideally about
7.2-7.4, which is about neutral. However, because of our poor diet
of junk food, fast food, overcooked, processed foods, especially soft
drinks which have a pH of 2.7, most of us are not balanced. The
above foods are several thousand times more acidic than our bodies.
The pH-scale is logarithmic, meaning that change of one unit (for
example from 7 to 6) is equivalent to 10 times increase/decrease in
acidity.
This is important because harmful bacteria, parasites etc live and
thrive in an acidic environment and do not live well in an alkaline
environment.
How diet affects the acid/alkaline balance
Now certain foods tend to have acidifying reaction in your body (i.e.
they make your body more acid).
You can see two detailed acid/alkaline food chart by clicking the
links below. Please note that there are many variations of these
charts floating around the internet. I don’t know which one is ‘the
ultimate truth’, so please consider any charts you find (including
these) as guidelines rather than the hard truth.
Contains also good information about acid/alkaline balance
and its effect on health.
As far as I understand there are two ways food can cause acidity in
your body.
During digestion foods are broken down into smaller and smaller
components that your body can utilise. This happens through
chemical reactions that break molecules apart. Either the end or
waste products of these chemical reactions are acidic.
Acidifying foods may also interfere with digestion. Majority of the
food you eat is digested in the small intestine. Your small intestine
secretes enzymes into food and those enzymes break food into
