Acidic foods and alkaline foods are often used in health education as a simple way to classify food types. The \”acid\” and \”alkaline\” properties mentioned here have nothing to do with the taste of the food itself. They are determined based on whether the substances ultimately produced in the body after food is digested, absorbed, and metabolized are acidic or alkaline. Acidic foods are based on the popular acidic body theory, rather than referring to the classification of food by directly testing the pH value. That is, after food is digested, it eventually forms nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, chlorine, salt, etc. to form acid radicals and remains in the body, which is called acidic food. Such as: cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, fish, grains, etc. The main components of alkaline food (calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium) are the four elements necessary for human movement and brain activity. Acidic foods usually refer to foods that are rich in protein, fat, and sugar. Because they contain more elements such as sulfur (S), phosphorus (P), and chlorine (Cl), they produce sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid, and lactic acid after metabolism in the human body. substance. Foods containing a high total amount of metal elements such as calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium, and the substances ultimately produced after metabolism in the body are alkaline, are called alkaline foods. For normal people, it does not make sense to pay attention to the acid-base properties of the diet.
So far, statements about acidic and alkaline physiques are much more likely to appear in commercial journals than in academic journals, and academic journals are mostly questioning and criticizing. The concept of acid-base food is considered to be more of a hype than scientific research.
Everyone may have misconceptions about the distinction between acidic and alkaline foods. They think that they taste it with their tongue and use their sense of taste to judge whether it is sour or astringent; or they can take litmus paper and look at its color according to its physical and chemical properties. Change, blue means alkaline, red means acidic; or based on daily dietary experience, it is believed that lemons, vinegar, oranges, apples and other foods taste sour, so they are acidic foods. Anyway, there are different opinions. In fact, the acidity and alkalinity of food depend on the type and content of minerals in the food.
From a nutritional perspective, acidic foods and alkaline foods actually refer to acid-forming foods and alkaline-forming foods, in terms of their impact on the body\’s acid-base balance. Acidic foods and Alkaline food is a physiological concept, rather than a simple taste or the chemical properties of food dissolved in water. It refers to the substances that people eat, digest, absorb and metabolize, and finally turn into substances in the body. Is it acidic or alkaline.
In fact, under normal physiological conditions, acid-base imbalance in the human body is not easy to occur. Once the pH value of body fluid is lower than 7.35, it is already acidosis, which means suffering from a very serious disease. Early acidosisIt often presents with symptoms such as loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Further development may manifest as lethargy, restlessness, lack of energy, and even coma and death. If you really have a so-called \”acidic constitution\”, the most correct choice is to go to the hospital as soon as possible and find a doctor for professional treatment.
The human body has an acid-base balance regulation system that can maintain the body\’s acid-base balance. Most alkaline foods cannot simply increase the human body\’s PH value, because when the human body mechanism determines that alkaline intake is excessive, it will release acid to neutralize it to balance, bringing the alkaline absorption close to 0. To help your body adjust to an alkaline state, you might as well try to start with a small amount and gradually increase the amount so that your body can adapt first and the absorption effect will be better.
Searching for the same keywords in English, you can find that foreign \”research\” on acidic foods and alkaline foods is far less developed than in China. Domestic \”experts\” in this field can work hard to be the best in the world. The reason why Chinese people are more likely to believe in this theory may have something to do with the traditional theory of yin and yang. However, if you really understand the idea of \”yin and yang\”, you should at least be able to figure out one problem. Every food has yin and yang. There is no absolute good or absolute bad. So for our own health, abandon those so-called sour foods. According to the alkaline theory, the key is to take in a wide variety of foods and maintain a balance.
