Experts disagree over benefits of alkaline diet in fighting diseases

Gabe Mirkin trains three to six hours a day as a bike racer in Florida. His stamina is impressive for any age, but at 77 the retired physician and former teaching fellow at Johns Hopkins University definitely turns heads. Mirkin's key to health is a diet rich in many different-colored fruits and vegetables, he says. He also avoids red meat and opts for better lean proteins instead.

There are others who use this diet approach to achieve optimal health or even to battle diseases. Many know of Kris Carr's 2007 "Crazy Sexy Cancer," a film that follows the actress and photographer's journey after a 2003 diagnosis of stage-four epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, a rare cancer found in the liver and lungs' blood vessel linings.

After nine years with only the help of a plant-based diet, Carr appears to be going strong and has created a not-so-small wellness empire. At the root of her plant-based diet is the topic of pH balance. According to Carr and other medical professionals, acidic processed foods, grains and meats ravage many Americans' bodies. Carr, with the help of researchers and academics, puts her best foot forward to explain how a higher acidic diet should shift to a more alkaline diet with more raw fruits and vegetables to keep metabolic and other processes in high gear.

Fruits and vegetables, when burned through the metabolic process, leave an alkaline "ash," or film with a pH above 7 on a scale of 1 to 14; meats leave an acidic ash well below 7. But while Mirkin likely consumes a supposedly higher alkaline diet, he balks at the topic of pH balance.

"It's complete nonsense," he says.

The retired doctor, who wrote his first essay against pH balance more than two decades ago, argues that the body regulates its blood pH level at approximately 7.4, a slightly alkaline state that is needed in order to live. The doctor says the body's every chemical reaction is guided by enzymes that work in that same narrow pH range to maintain health, and the body's other systems such as the lungs and kidneys also do their part to filter out excess acid ultimately expelled as waste. It's an extremely efficient system that works to keep fluids slightly alkaline at all times, he says.

"My statement is that the foods exclaimed by acid-base theory are helpful but not because of acid-base. Buying products based on changing your pH is walking on very shaky ground," he adds.

JUST GOOD FOOD?

Mirkin says there are countless studies that show red meat's association with many types of cancers, and it's impossible to ignore the connection. However, chicken and fish are considered to be acidic meats, too, he notes, but they are less likely to be associated with disease. He says those that are promoting the diet often have products such as supplements or books to sell.

Marjorie Nolan, spokeswoman for the national Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, agrees with Mirkin.

"It's more a cause of fluids, vitamins and minerals and fiber in the body," she says of the high alkaline diet. "It all comes back to eating fruits and vegetables and cutting high-fat proteins. … That's the bottom-line message. They're just trying to say it in an interesting and different way."

Patricia Alpert, associate professor and chair of the physiology department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas school of nursing, says the unique subject is bringing on its share of lifestyle changes, and it's a good thing, even though she can't really find the science to back any claims either.

"Some will change their lifestyle and may benefit from it. If you do, that's great. Whatever it takes. To stay healthy is a lot of hard work. There are no shortcuts," she notes.

CANCER SURVIVAL NONSENSE?

But it's tough to see a person diagnosed with stage-four cancer living almost a decade with the help of diet and lifestyle choices alone and dismiss it as nonsense.

Some might go out on a limb and ask, with Carr's story as a basis, could fruits and vegetables prevent and cure cancer?

One person who won't address the question is Brent Jones, owner of Real Water, a Las Vegas-based bottled water company that offers a high-alkaline product infused with negative ions. Jones knows better than to make claims about his products and prefers the product simply do the talking. Sports stars such as Steve Nash, celebrities such as Eva Langoria and numerous other high-profile people drink his water. Some say it's a life changer, but he stops short of making a claim himself.

"Allopathic medicine won't support this because it's all about looking at the symptom, not the root cause," he says. Jones adds that medical research in America is controlled by pharmaceutical companies driven by profits from drugs for diseases. A prevention approach like acid-alkaline balance doesn't make economic sense for them, he says.

But some doctors are taking note of possible connections between chronic disease and a highly acidic diet.

University of California researcher and nephrologist Dr. Lynda Frassetto's study of the Paleo diet, a higher alkaline approach to eating, is questioning the notion of whether a plant-based diet may indeed be the answer to both prevention and cure of chronic diseases.

Others, such as San Diego microbiologist Robert Young, are also researching and writing about the subject.

In Carr's film, Young, who is also the author of a book called "pH Miracle," puts it simply: "Our cells are like fish. They're only as healthy as the water they swim in."

Susan Brown is a medical anthropologist and director of the Center for Better Bones in Syracuse, N.Y. She says acid-alkaline balance "sets the chemical stage for the cells and how they function."

Like Mirkin, Brown agrees the body works to regulate and keep its fluids at a very narrow pH range of about 7.4. But she also says highly acidic diets create a condition called chronic metabolic low-grade acidosis. As a result of poor diet decisions, small levels of acid can accumulate in the body through the years and the body has no choice but to rob buffering minerals such as calcium from the bones to maintain a slightly alkaline state. The end results are premature aging, bone and muscle deterioration.

Alpert, Nolan and Mirkin all agree the body does naturally pull calcium from the bones to neutralize acids. But it's a common ground that is divisive. Dietitians and doctors seem to believe this is simply a natural process, and eating too many foods considered acidic is not an ultimate logical tipping point to disease.

Brown believes urine analysis is a significant indicator in whether the body is battling chronic acidosis. She uses urine tests taken first thing in the morning after a person has had at least six hours of rest to gauge whether the body is working too hard to break down acids. She says a normal morning pH test strip should read between 6.5 and 7.5. However, she sees many patients who start nutrition programs in the 5-point range.

She suggests about 13 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, more than double the five-a-day recommendation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In Carr's "Crazy Sexy Diet" book, a follow-up to her film, she promotes a 60/40 percent alkaline/acid ratio of foods in a day. Some diets go to a greater extreme of 80/20. Either way, the amount of food eaten is large in a low-calorie, plant-based context. Even Frassetto admits that one of the chief complaints from her patients on her diet is the sheer volume of food consumed over six meals.

But Nolan also says there are numerous factors such as hydration, food combinations and the menstrual cycle that can influence how a food is metabolized and used in the body.

"The actual pH of a product may be true, but what people don't understand is that the pH doesn't mean it actually functions that way in the body," she adds.

PLACEBO?

Both Mirkin and Alpert say a placebo effect is possible in some situations. And the scientific community is happy to advise those who are feeling better on a high-alkaline diet to continue on the path with it, even if the science may not be there to prove it.

"The mind is very strong and can suggest something and the body responds," Alpert says. "About 20 percent of people will take nothing and say they feel better."

Even Mirkin seems to have his soft spot in the debate. He admits that when an athlete is at 100 percent intensity, the blood does become slightly acidic because of the accumulation of lactic acid. It's not a bad time to have an alkaline boost then, he says.

"Alkalinization will give that extra boost. Athletes do take bicarbonate, but the benefit is really small," he adds.