# Acid-base balance: what the body regulates - and where diet actually intervenes

> Blood pH is one of the most tightly controlled values in the body. And yet there is something to the acid-base question - just at a different point than usually claimed.

Few nutrition topics are told wrong as often as acid-base balance. Between "acidosis" as the explanation for everything and the blanket verdict that it is all nonsense sits the physiology. And it is more interesting than either extreme.

## What the body keeps constant, no compromises

Arterial blood pH sits between 7.35 and 7.45. That range is so narrow that any genuine deviation is a medical emergency. Three systems hold it: the bicarbonate buffer system in the blood, the lungs via CO2 exhalation, and the kidneys, which excrete hydrogen ions and reclaim bicarbonate. Which leads to an uncomfortable clarification: no food and no powder shifts your blood pH.

## Where diet actually lands: the renal acid load

The real effect sits one level down - in the work your kidneys have to do every day. Remer and Manz described the PRAL concept in 1995: sulphur-containing amino acids from meat, fish, cheese and grains break down into sulphate and free hydrogen ions, while potassium and magnesium salts of organic acids from fruit and vegetables are metabolised into bicarbonate. A typical Western diet delivers a net acid load of roughly 50 milliequivalents per day. A low urine pH is therefore not a sign of illness - it is the kidney doing its job.

## What the evidence supports, and what it does not

The obvious hypothesis: chronic acid load mobilises calcium from bone. Fenton and colleagues examined this causal chain systematically in 2011 and found no robust evidence that an alkalising diet protects bone. What does remain consistent: a diet rich in potassium and vegetables is associated with better health markers. The mechanism does not have to be pH - the recommendation stays the same regardless.

The burn in your muscles under hard effort is a local, temporary accumulation of hydrogen ions inside the cell - not lactate itself, as Robergs and colleagues carefully disentangled in 2004. That acidosis is part of the effort, not a nutritional problem. In the daily life of active people, what matters more are the minerals that run short through sweat and elevated turnover.

## What is regulatorily established

Here it gets precise. **Zinc** contributes to normal acid-base metabolism. **Magnesium** contributes to electrolyte balance and to normal muscle function, **calcium** additionally to normal neurotransmission. **Iron and magnesium** contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue. **Copper, manganese, selenium, zinc** and **vitamin C** contribute to the protection of cells from oxidative stress.

## How WOO® Basic Plus approaches the topic

**[WOO® Basic Plus](/en/shop/woo-basic-plus-can)** combines exactly these two levels: the fibre inulin as a base and a mineral matrix in citrate and carbonate form. Per 15 g serving: 352.4 mg calcium, 120.3 mg vitamin C, 116 mg magnesium, 2.9 mg iron, 2.5 mg zinc, plus manganese, copper, molybdenum, chromium and selenium. One scoop in 250 ml of water, once a day, no more. One tin lasts 30 days - orange flavour, vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free.

## Frequently asked questions

**Can diet change my blood pH?**
No. Blood pH is held within the tightest limits by buffers, lungs and kidneys. What changes is the acid load your kidneys have to excrete - and urine pH as its reflection.

**Is measuring urine pH worthwhile?**
It shows a snapshot and fluctuates strongly across the day, particularly after meals. As a trend over weeks it is interesting; as a single value it says little.

**Why should I start slowly with inulin?**
Fibre is fermented by bacteria in the large intestine. If your microbiome has seen little of it so far, this can cause bloating at first. The effect usually settles within one to two weeks.

## Sources

Remer T & Manz F (1995), Journal of the American Dietetic Association - Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence on urine pH.
Fenton TR et al. (2011), Nutrition Journal - Causal assessment of dietary acid load and bone disease: a systematic review.
Robergs RA, Ghiasvand F & Parker D (2004), American Journal of Physiology - Biochemistry of exercise-induced metabolic acidosis.

*WOO® Basic Plus - in the NEMAPO shop.*