Premise
The calculator shown on this page is an important aid in assessing the acid / base balance of various meals or the whole diet.
We remind the reader how negative values are indicative of an alkalizing potential of the food, while a positive PRAL is an indicator of an acidifying effect.
- Acidifying foods: include cheeses, meats, eggs, cured meats, chlorine, coffee, tea, simple sugars, refined farinaceous, and cola-based drinks
- Alkalinising foods: fresh fruits and vegetables. Calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium.
- Neutral / Slightly acidifying foods: whole grains, legumes, milk and dried fruit
A diet too rich in acidifying wastes and poor in alkalizing foods is associated with an increase in urinary calcium excretion, which represents a potential risk factor for the appearance of osteoporosis. Furthermore, a diet of this type could be associated with a reduced metabolic efficiency of the organism, leading to recurrent infections, nervousness, exhaustion and insomnia.
It should be pointed out, however, that official medical science considers many of the positive effects attributed to alkalizing diets to be without scientific basis.
- In therapy the alkalizing diets are used to prevent the appearance of some types of urinary calculi, such as those of uric acid and cystine. However, they are contraindicated in subjects exposed to the risk of phosphocalcic kidney stones (therefore in the presence of kidney stones, an alkaline or acidifying diet may be useful depending on the composition of the stones, consult the doctor!)
- They could have a positive effect in preventing osteoporosis by reducing renal calcium excretion (although hyperprotein diets, therefore acidifying, do not seem to increase the risk of osteoporosis by compensating for hypercalciuria with an increase in calcium absorption in the intestine and synthesis of trophic hormones for bone)
- They are contraindicated in alkalosis and acidosis related to respiratory diseases
- The Medical-Sports Rationale of the use of supplements based on Alkalinising Agents (eg sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, citric acid, potassium citrate ...) is based on the process of partial neutralization of lactic hematic acid, which it accumulates during very intense efforts, forcing the athlete to reduce his performance level.
Calculate the pH of your diet
INSTRUCTIONS: select the foods that make up the diet from the drop-down menus and specify the relative consumed quantities (expressed in grams) in the side column. To speed up the search for food, once you have selected the drop-down menu, type the initials of the food you are looking for with the keyboard (for example, type pasta if you are looking for this food).
