Alkaline Diets, Animal Protein, and Calcium Loss
Channel: NutritionFacts.org
Date: 2013-09-30

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DESCRIPTION: The decades-old dogma that the acid-forming quality of animal protein leads to bone loss has been called into question.

Now the boost in calcium absorption can only compensate if you're taking enough in. For example, dietary acid load may be associated with lower bone mineral density in those getting under 800mg (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23873776) a day. Plant Protein is Preferable (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/plant-protein-preferable/) to animal protein for a variety of reasons (tends to have less methionine, is less IGF-1, http://nutritionfacts.org/video/protein-intake-and-igf-1-production/, promoting, etc., http://nutritionfacts.org/index.php?s=protein), but it's not clear how much of an advantage it has when it comes to bone health.

I previously touched on this topic in my video Is Protein Bad to the Bone? (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/is-protein-bad-to-the-bone) But I promised I'd take a deeper dive, and here it is! If there are other topics you'd like me to cover in greater depth please note them below in the comment section.

Note to chemistry geeks: of course it's the calcium salt anions that really do the buffering (carbonate in Tums and phosphate in bones), but I'm trying my best to simplify for a largely lay audience! Get ready for some kitchen chemistry (actually bathroom chemistry!) in my next video Testing Your Diet with Pee & Purple Cabbage (http://nutritionfacts.org/video/testing-your-diet-with-pee-purple-cabbage).

Have a question for Dr. Greger about this video? Leave it in the comment section at http://nutritionfacts.org/video/alkaline-diets-animal-protein-and-calcium-loss/ and he'll try to answer it!

Image Credit: Devlin Thompson and Robert Belknap via flickr, Petwoe and BruceBlaus via Wikimedia, and diy.org.

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