 Osteoporosis, the Consequences of the Acidogenic Western Diet and the Beneficial Effects of Alkalinization
Written By: Dr. Peter L. Kopko, D.C.
In October 2004 the U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, M.D. issued for the first time a report on the topic of bone health. He warned Americans that by 2020, one in two Americans over the age of 50 will be at risk for fractures from osteoporosis or low bone mass. In the U.S. today it is estimated that 10 million people over the age of 50 have osteoporosis and another 34 million have osteopenia (low bone mass) and are at risk for developing osteoporosis. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), osteoporosis accounts for an estimated 1.5 million fractures annually in the U.S. In fact, it is estimated that 1 in 2 women and 1 in 8 men will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime.
Other findings in the report include:
- About 20 percent of senior citizens who suffer a hip fracture die within a year of fracture.
- About 20 percent of individuals with as hip fracture end up in a nursing home within a year.
- Hip fractures account for 300,000 hospitalizations each year.
- The direct care costs for osteoporotic fractures alone are already up to $18 billion each year. The number is expected to increase if action to prevent osteoporosis is not taken now.
If this is not alarming enough, according to the this report, osteoporosis is a "silent" condition because many Americans are unaware that their bone health is in jeopardy. In fact, four times as many men and nearly three times as many women have osteoporosis than report having the condition. One of the most dangerous myths about osteoporosis is that only women need to worry about bone health. Osteoporosis affects men and women of all races.
All researchers and health care providers agree that the key to this potentially life threatening and disabling condition is prevention. Early intervention, recognizing risk factors and modifying or eliminating them and life style changes are the agreed remedies.
Let's take a look at two of the agreed leading risk factors:
- Chronic acidemia from protein-rich meat based diets.
- Chronic acidemia from the over consumption of carbonated soft-drinks, coffee and alcohol.
It is my opinion after 26 years of clinical experience that absent the side-effects of certain prescription medications which are certainly a risk factor for osteoporosis, the underlying primary risk factor is chronic acidemia. It has been well documented that the traditional Western diet of protein-rich foods and the over consumption of soft-drinks, coffee and alcohol can lead to a chronic low-grade metabolic acidosis. This diet increases the net dietary acid load, lowers the pH of the blood and acidifies the urine. What can we do on a daily basis to combat this chronic acidemia?
Both in my practice with my patients and at my own home I recommend along with dietary changes, exercise, calcium and Vitamin D supplementation, the drinking of ionized, micro-clustered alkaline water. Why alkaline water? Every time that the body succumbs to this low grade metabolic acidosis, the body must regain balance and return to homeostasis. Our blood pH level must remain in a very narrow range or organ systems, enzyme functioning and basic life support become at risk at failing. The physiological response to this acidosis is to leach calcium out of our bones and thereby buffer this systemic acidity. I call this process the "Tums effect." It is analogous to taking Tums when your stomach is upset. Tums is primarily calcium just like your bones. When this process occurs day after day your bones are leached out, your calcium "bank" is depleted and you end up with osteoporosis.
The traditional Western diet is far more acidifying than you may think. According to Sang Whang, an engineer, scientist, inventor with many US patents and expert on anti-aging and alkalinity, drinking one glass of cola with a pH value of 2.5 could in theory lower the blood pH to dangerous levels if it were not for this bone calcium homeostatic mechanism. In fact without this bone calcium leaching mechanism, one would need to drink 32 glasses of alkaline water to neutralize this one cola's acidity, according to Sang Whang.
Researchers Remer and Manz developed a system for calculating the average potential renal acid load of specific foods, referred to as the PRAL. Fats and oils have a relative value of zero, they do not produce an acidic load on the kidneys. As the PRAL goes up in positive numbers, so goes up the potential acid load. Negative numbers represent an alkaline effect.
- Milk and Dairy Products: +1.0-+23.6
- Meat and Meat Products: +9.5
- Fish: +7.9
- Grain Products: +3.5-+7.0
- Vegetables: -2.8
- Fruits and Fruit Juices: -3.1
We all know that it is very important to drink good clean water every day to maintain health. Why not optimize that mandatory requirement for excellent health by drinking ionized, micro-clustered alkaline water and mitigate the ill effects of acidic foods and help reverse the progression of conditions like osteoporosis?
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