 If our body isn't buffering the acid formed from our diet with our bones, how is it neutralizing the acid? Maybe with our muscles. Our blood gets more acidic as we age, as our kidney function declines, and this may be a reason we lose muscle mass as we get older. The modern Western diet based on animal product generates an acid load that may cause a lifespan state of unnoticed and growing metabolic acidosis. And this chronic, low level diet-dependent metabolic acidosis might contribute to the progressive shrinking of our muscle mass as we age. See muscle wasting appears to be an adaptive response to acidosis. When our muscles break down, amino acids are released into the bloodstream. Our liver can then take these amino acids and make something called glutamine, which our kidneys can use to get rid of the excess acid. And indeed, in this three-year study, those over age 65 eating alkaline diets were better able to preserve their muscle mass, which they think maybe because the alkaline producing fruits and vegetables helped relieve the mild acidosis that occurs with the ingestion of the standard American diet. But show me a study in which fruits and vegetables aren't associated with health benefits. So when the latest review asks, does an alkaline diet benefit health? If you're asking, does a diet low in meat, eggs, and dairy, all acid producing, and high in fruits and vegetables with lots of dark green leafies, well then of course the answer is yes, an alkaline diet benefits health. But if you're asking, does it matter what the pH of your pea is, whether your urine is acid or alkaline, regardless of what actually goes into your mouth, then the answer is actually still yes. It does matter, but the accepted benefits of having alkaline urine appear limited to two areas, lower risk of kidney stones and better uric acid clearance. We know about the kidney stones, but the uric acid data is new. Researchers found that alkalinization of the urine is effective for removing uric acid from the body. If you remember, uric acid is bad stuff, potentially increasing one's risk of fatal stroke, heart disease, and death. So those eating plant-based diets are at an advantage. The average vegetarian diet is alkaline producing, and the average meat-eating diet is acid producing. Even though there are some acid-producing, acid-forming meat substitutes, like some of the corn products, they're not as bad as something like tuna. And they're typically consumed in smaller quantities than meat consumers consume meat. As the protein in plants is usually accompanied by much more potassium, which is alkalinalizing, there is good reason to meet protein meats preferably from plant sources. And if you actually measure urine pH, those eating strictly plant-based diets have the greatest advantage, significantly more alkaline urine than omnivores. How can you tell what your urine pH is? Well, you can be all boring and order from pH paper strips to peon, or you can use what you should have right now in your crisper— a purple cabbage. Everyone should have a red or purple cabbage in their fridge, since it's one of the best nutrition bangs for our buck. But you can also do science with it. You can either boil some until the water turns deep purple, or a quicker, safer way, since you're not dealing with hot liquids, is to just blend some raw in your blender with some water for that gorgeous purple, and then just strain out the solids. Then what you do with that royal purple liquid is you pour it in the toilet bowl after you pee. You can imagine how much fun kids have with this. If it stays purple, your urine is acidic, and you should eat more dark green leafy vegetables. If the toilet bowl turns pink, your urine is really acidic, and you should eat more dark green leafy vegetables. You're looking for blue. If it turns blue, that means your urine is neutral, or even alkaline, if it's sky blue, and that means you should continue to eat more dark green leafy vegetables.