USDA Study Shows Alkaline Foods Prevent Muscle and Bone Loss

Fruits and vegetables contain essential vitamins,
alkaline minerals, fiber that are key to good health.
Now, a newly released study by Agricultural Research
Service (ARS)-funded scientists suggests alkaline
plant foods also may help preserve muscle mass and
bone density in older men and women.

The study was led by physician and nutrition specialist
Bess Dawson-Hughes at the Jean Mayer USDA Human
Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University
in Boston, Mass.

The typical American diet is rich highly acidic in
protein, cereal grains and other acid-producing foods.
In general, such acidic diets generate dietary amounts
of acid each day. With aging, a mild but slowly
increasing metabolic "acidosis" develops, according
to the researchers.

Acidosis appears to trigger a muscle-wasting response.
So the researchers looked at links between measures
of lean body mass and diets relatively high in
alkaline potassium-rich, alkaline-residue producing
fruits and vegetables. Such diets could help neutralize
acidosis. Foods can be considered alkaline or acidic
based on the residues they produce in the body, rather
than whether they are alkaline or acidic themselves.
For example, acidic grapefruits, lemons and limes are
metabolized to alkaline residues because of their high
alkaline potassium bicarbonate content.

The researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis on
a subset of nearly 400 male and female volunteers aged
65 or older who had completed a three-year
osteoporosis intervention trial. The volunteers'
physical activity, height and weight, and percentage
of lean body mass were measured at the start of the
study and at three years. Their urinary potassium
was measured at the start of the study, and their
dietary data was collected at 18 months.

Based on regression models, volunteers whose diets
were rich in alkaline buffers such as potassium could
expect to have 3.6 more pounds of lean tissue mass
than volunteers with half the higher potassium intake.
That almost offsets the 4.4 pounds of lean tissue that
is typically lost in a decade in healthy men and women
aged 65 and above, according to authors. The study was
published in the March issue of the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition.

Sarcopenia, or loss of muscle mass, can lead to falls
due to weakened leg muscles. The authors encourage
future studies that look into the effects of increasing
overall intake of foods that metabolize to alkaline
residues on muscle mass and functionality.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief
scientific research agency.

According to Dr. Robert O. Young, a research scientist
at The pH Miracle Living Center, "a diet high in
protein and/or dairy is a diet high in lactic, uric
and nitric acid when not properly eliminated through
urination, perspiration or defecation will breakdown
connective tissue, muscle tissue and bone. If you
want to maintain or build muscle and bone mass then
get off the acidic animal protein, diary and high
sugar fruits that will eventually break your body
down. Acids are the cause of aging and the best
anti-aging advice is to eat and/or drink 12
servings of alkaline fruits and vegetables every
day."

Dr. Young as tested 100's of foods to determine
their acid/alkaline benefits after digestion.
You can find this list of foods that are alkaline
to heal and build the body and foods that are
acidic that ferment and break down the body by
reading The pH Miracle, The pH Miracle for Diabetes,
The pH Miracle for Weight Loss or you can go to:

http://www.phmiracleliving.com/alkaline-foods.htm

Dr. Young has developed a 28 to 1 concentration of
alkaline fruits and vegetables to meet and exceed
the daily USDA requirments. To learn more go to:

http://www.phmiracleliving.com/phruits.htm