So I've wondering what those of you with a bigger interest in nutrition and physiology than my own have to stay about Alkaline diets. Here's a link:

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/popularhealthdiets/a/alkalinediet.htm

I've run across this a few times and met people doing it. The main claim is that you can control how alkaline or acidic your body is, and from this you get other claims like cancer only being able to develop in an "acidic body" and the usual alternative health woo woo about toxics and natural vs man-made foods and how cavemen ate.

And to answer my own question, I found this:

http://www.brighamandwomens.org/healtheweightforwomen/special_topics/intelihealth0506.aspx?subID=submenu10

The body maintains a slightly basic blood pH through the actions of the respiratory system and the kidneys. Lift weights, build up lots of lactic acid, get acidosis, body will reduce this through breathing out CO2 to return it to it's baseline. Eat a bag of salt & vinegar chips, same thing blood acid levels rise, kidneys filter and excrete the excess through urine. So we already have a very precise mechanism at work for maintaining homeostasis with regards to blood acidity/alkalinity.


What is the Evidence for Alkaline Diets?

Large, well-designed clinical trials on the effectiveness of the alkaline diet for general health are lacking.

That pretty much says it all.

I've invented something better than the alkaline diet. The acid diet, and by "acid" I mean LSD. Benefits include:

Improved sense of wellbeing.
Weight loss.
Communion with aliens.