But the tides are changing :)

@ ERIK – Thanks for stopping by Erik! I must say that is great to hear about your Dad, he was definitely ahead of his time. It is great that you are providing a great service to others and teaching them about the wide scope of osteoporosis and how there is so much more than just milk to it!

A really good book to buy and have on hand as a resource is: The Acid-Alkaline Food Guide: A Quick Reference to Foods & Their Effect on pH Levels
It is a small book, written in a very easy to understand for everyone format, gives you all the basics to know about the balance in the body and how different foods disrupt it, what health conditions it causes and the best part, it gives you a reference chart of pretty much all the common foods and where they fall.

In terms of your first question, I will begin with protein as it is the easier one of the two to understand.

Protein is the easy one, as it follows the acid/alkaline dynamics. High amounts of protein are acidic (when they break down), this high acid must be buffered (remember our bodies, i.e. blood must always stay at a slightly alkaline level 7.35 – 7.45 pH) What is also very interesting is that animal proteins tend to exhibit this effect extremely, where as plant proteins do not. The difference? Animal proteins are made up of different amino acid sequences and amounts (i.e. different amounts than plant proteins) and these amino acids provoke a different reaction in our bodies. So high animal protein = acidic body = needed calcium to buffer the effect and leave body slightly alkaline, no matter what.

With salt, the answer is a little more complicated. It has to do with renal (kidney) pathways that calcium shares with sodium (shared renal absorption pathways). The biochemistry of the kidneys is very complex, so to make it really simple, hypercalciuria occurs from high amounts of sodium in the kidneys because sodium competes with calcium for reabsorption in the renal tubules. And both cannot go at the same time. So one pulls the other out (and most of the time it is sodium dependent, i.e. the sodium pulls the calcium out, or in other words, prevents its uptake as sodium can occupy the spots where the calcium would go.

Like I said the biochemistry of the kidneys in this process is complex, but I hope that gives you enough of an idea of what is happening down there.

The other day, I tried to explain the food acid / alkaline dynamic, and because I’m no scientist, it was hard… he kept saying citrus fruits are acid. I pointed out we are talking about the acidity of the digested foods (food ash)… is this right?

You don’t need to do a whole course of science class here — but some idea would be helpful. Thank you.