But those factors don't fully explain the 350,000 hip fractures each year in the United States, researchers say. She divided more than 9,000 women 65 and older into five groups according to the overall acid load of their diet and found that women in the most acidic group suffered hip fractures 3.7 times more often than those in the least acidic group during the study's seven-year period. But clinicians including Uriel Barzel of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y., already think that people worried about osteoporosis should replace some of their acid-producing animal foods with fruits and vegetables. Looting the bones. Our kidneys ordinarily regulate the acidity of our blood by dumping excess acid in the urine, but the typical, protein-rich American diet overloads them.
Protein contains sulfur, which our livers turn into sulfuric acid.
They're composed primarily of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate, which are excellent bases for neutralizing acids. Over many years, this process could weaken the bones. Anthony Sebastian of UCSF recently surveyed diet and hip fracture rates in 33 countries. Instead, says Sebastian, focus on fruits and vegetables that are rich in potassium, such as bananas, apricots, and spinach. Potassium generally goes with base-producing compounds, he explains.