Don’t poo-poo the PH say celebs who swear by new diet
COULD everyday problems such as tiredness, bloating, excess weight and spots – or even serious illnesses like heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis and cancer – occur because your diet is too acidic?
That is the claim made by fans of the “alkaline diet”, first espoused a decade ago by Dr Robert Young, a US self-styled “world expert” in nutrition.
The diet has reportedly garnered celebrity fans including Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Elle Macpherson, and has sprung to prominence in the UK thanks to the New Year launch of Honestly Healthy Cleanse, a cookbook by Natasha Corrett that evangelises alkaline-based eating. It has become a top-seller on Amazon.
Experts are not convinced, warning that the approach is another faddy diet and if taken too far, may be bad for you.
The basic idea of the alkaline regimen is that almost all the foods we eat are supposedly broken down into either an acidic or alkaline base, called “ash”. And because our blood is slightly alkaline, with a normal pH of between 7.35 and 7.45, our diet should reflect this.
The problem, say alkaliners, is that we eat too many “acidforming” foods – wheat, dairy, meat, seafood, sugar, coffee, tea, fizzy drinks and alcohol.
This they say causes a pH imbalance which disrupts the body’s ability to regulate itself – leading to a range of problems from low energy and poor memory, headaches, bloating, muscle pain and insomnia to serious conditions such as osteoporosis.
Alkaline foods – fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes and wholegrains – help to restore the body’s pH balance, improving health problems and even slowing down the ageing process, alkaliners claim. They are also said to be easier for the digestive system to break down, so vitamins and minerals are more readily absorbed.
Corrett’s book, while making no extravagant health claims beyond “feel and look better”, features 100 “detoxing” recipes based on the principles of alka- line diets that have inspired her previous three works.
Followers are said to include Victoria Beckham, who reportedly sticks to a “super-strict alkaline” diet of vegetables, beans, spices, lentils and fruit.
Corrett, 31, has her own celebrity credentials, through family ties. She is the step-sister of actress Sienna Miller, her mother is interior designer Kelly Hoppen and her father is restaurateur Graham Corrett, who owns Le Boudin Blanc in London’s Mayfair.
She says she discovered the diet five years ago when she was overtired, overworked, unhappy with her weight and suffering from a stress-related back spasm. Her mother recom- mended she visit a therapist specialising in Ayurvedic medicine – an alternative health approach based on ancient Indian medicine – and acupuncture.
When the therapist said her whole system was “out of balance” and had become “incredibly acidic”, she decided to follow the alkaline diet. She says she lost 15kg “without noticing” and felt properly healthy for the first time in years. She also claims her symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome – multiple cysts in the ovaries – such as acne, mood swings and bloating, disappeared.
There is no scientific evidence that the body’s pH balance has anything to do with polycystic ovaries (although it’s known that losing weight and a healthy diet can help to reduce some symptoms).
In fact, there is no credible scientific evidence to support the alkaline theory generally. It’s not diet that controls our pH but a complex system involving the kidneys and the lungs (and our carbon dioxide levels). Research published in reputable scientific journals is dismissive of the approach.
The claims that worry experts are those by Dr Young, the original champion, who has suggested that serious illnesses including osteoporosis, heart disease and cancer are caused by excess acidity in the blood, and this can be controlled by diet.
On his website, he proclaims himself “widely recognised as one of the top research scientists in the world”. His first book on the subject, The pH Miracle, was published in 2002. In 2014, he published the latest in his miracle-diet series, called Reverse Cancer Now, which claims: “This book is not about remission. It is about a cure.”
A report last year by oncologists from Frankfurt University, in the journal Anticancer Research, warned that there is no evidence of benefits from alkaline diets, and overly strict regimens could leave patients short of crucial nutrients.
Dr Young – not a medical doctor – has been criticised by conventional scientists. Last November, a court in California ordered him to face six criminal charges, including practising medicine without a licence and “grand theft by fraud”.
He is accused of promising a cure to people dying of cancer and charging thousands of dollars for treatments at his “pH Miracle Center” in California. The court case is proceeding, and Young denies all charges.
While Corrett’s book makes modest claims, others make wilder suggestions about alkaline diets being able to slow ageing and cure cancer. This might seem alluring, but as far as respected scientists are concerned, such promises belong in the category of quackery. – Daily Mail