Macro partitioning
A net acid-yielding western diet (high in meat, dairy, grains, salt) compared to a net base-yielding hunter-gatherer diet (high in fruits, vegetables, tubers) contributes to osteoporosis and sarcopenia through chronic low-grade metabolic acidosis.
To support bone and muscle health, balance your diet's acid load. Reduce net acid-yielding foods like hard cheeses, cereal grains, and processed meats. Increase net base-yielding foods like fruits, vegetables, and tubers. This helps mitigate chronic low-grade metabolic acidosis, which can leach calcium from bones and break down muscle.
the typical western diet, which is net acid yielding... leads to a chronic, low-grade metabolic acidosis, which elicits loss of calcium ions caused by mobilization of alkaline salts from bone... Chronic, low-grade metabolic acidosis also induces the release of amino acids... in the long term, a net acid-yielding diet may increase the risk for osteoporosis and sarcopenia.
Why this rating
Based on theoretical models and observational data, not direct intervention trials.
Source
The western diet and lifestyle and diseases of civilization
Pedro Carrera‐Bastos et al. · Research Reports in Clinical Cardiology · 2011
DOI 10.2147/rrcc.s16919
More from this paper
- Adopting a hunter-gatherer-style diet and lifestyle (Paleolithic diet and lifestyle) reduces the risk of chronic degenerative diseases of civilization, including coronary heart disease, obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and autoimmune diseases.Moderate
- The modern western diet's high sodium-to-potassium ratio contributes to hypertension, stroke, and other chronic diseases.Moderate
- Consumption of wheat gliadin and plant lectins (found in grains, legumes, and some vegetables) increases intestinal permeability ('leaky gut'), leading to endotoxemia, chronic inflammation, and potentially autoimmune diseases and insulin resistance.Moderate
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