Dan Wilson
Senior Member
So the claim here is that cancer cells don't grow as well in an alkaline (basic) environment, therefore eating food that makes your blood more alkaline should help fight tumors. It can make sense at face value, since test tube experiments do show that tumors in alkaline environments grow more slowly than in acidic environments, but when we look into this it is just plain false. There are three main reasons I will cover to explain why this is so, but first here is the claim in its own words.
http://www.acidalkalinediet.com/alkaline-diet-for-cancer#.VJ2gsaDEBA
1) You generally (there are exceptions) can't change the pH of your blood. The pH of your blood is tightly regulated by 3 main things: Buffer systems (carbonic acid-bicarbonate, proteins, and phosphates), exhalation, and kidney function. Blood pH is generally kept between 7.35 and 7.45 in most areas of the body. The lungs, however, will maintain a pH of about 7.6 to increase oxygen uptake. This system is hugely important because pH needs to be kept in a certain range or else you can die. Why? Well, as I just mentioned, pH can dictate oxygen uptake and delivery in the body. Another important reason is that most proteins and enzymes must be in a certain pH to function. A pH change of 0.1 can mean the difference between working correctly and not working at all.
I mentioned that there are exceptions and studying these exceptions was one way we figured out how and why pH is so important. Diabetics, for example, can not uptake sugar very well, so their bodies must use other sources of energy like fats and proteins. When your body only uses these sources, it creates acidic by-products called ketone bodies. These by-products can cause the condition known as keto-acidosis, which can cause the body to quickly go into shock and cause death. The first symptoms of this can be seen when pH falls below 7.35 and severe acidosis involving coma and death occurs when pH drops below 7.00. Similarly, alkalosis can occur when the blood pH rises above 7.45 and can also result in death by convulsions.
The point here is that the body highly regulates the pH of your blood because if it swings one way or the other, you're looking at some serious consequences. This is the reason why your diet will not significantly effect your pH.
2) Experiments showing that cancer cells don't grow as well in alkaline environments as they do in other conditions does not necessarily translate to a treatment for a patient. There are no references to these experiments in the sources I have found and I could not find a corroborating article on PubMed, but let's talk about what we know about cancer. All things considered, cancer cells are often not too different from normal cells. If they were super different, the immune system wouldn't have a problem getting rid of it. A global change in pH that kills cancer cells will likely kill normal cells as well and could possibly cause some of the acidosis/alkalosis symptoms mentioned earlier. This is because cancer cells share most, if not all, of their proteins in common with normal cells. If they don't work, neither do your cells. In other words, normal cells would probably have also been killed in these test tube experiments, making the treatment untranslatable to the clinic.
3) Some articles claiming the benefits of these alkaline diets would contest what I said in my second point by saying that cancer cells actually depend on an acidic environment. Indeed, the microenvironment around tumors is slightly more acidic, but the logic here is backwards. The acidity is actually created by the cancer cells rather than the cancer depending on or resulting from it. This is because cancer cells do not perform metabolism normally. Instead of using glycolysis (breaking sugar) and sending the pieces through the Krebs cycle, it heavily uses glycolysis. This is known as the Warburg effect. This is what your muscles do when you work out and they need fast energy, they produce lactic acid. Cancer cells seem to do this all the time, resulting in a more acidic microenvironment. But as long as their proteins can work, they don't care about the pH of their environment. This means that they are no more dependent on the surrounding pH than your normal cells.
In the battle against cancer, it is important to distinguish between treatments that are helpful and treatments that are either useless or downright harmful. Diet actually can be important in the prevention of cancer, but not because of any effects it might have on the pH of your blood.
I will try to update my sources with more web links if needed but what I've written here is supported by:
http://drbenkim.com/ph-body-blood-foods-acid-alkaline.htm
The Biology of Cancer chapter 2
Principles of Biochemistry chapters 5 and 6
http://www.acidalkalinediet.com/alkaline-diet-for-cancer#.VJ2gsaDEBA
Just to clarify before moving on, pH is measure on a scale of 0-14 with the basic end being 14 and the acidic end being 0. So why does this claim not hold up? Let's start the first reason by talking about pH.External Quote:Studies have shown that in the test tube, cancer cells and tumors thrive and grow in a more acidic environment. When the level of acid is lowered, tumors grow much more slowly. If this behavior occurs in the test tube, it stands to reason that cancer cells in the body would also be detrimentally affected by an overall alkaline environment. It would also make sense that if the body's pH is acidic, then the growth of cancer cells and tumors would be encouraged. By eating mostly foods that make the body's pH more alkaline, there would be less of a chance for cancer cells to develop and grow. So, by adjusting the diet, it is actually possible to create a less hospitable environment for cancer cells, thus improving a person's chances of experiencing good health.
1) You generally (there are exceptions) can't change the pH of your blood. The pH of your blood is tightly regulated by 3 main things: Buffer systems (carbonic acid-bicarbonate, proteins, and phosphates), exhalation, and kidney function. Blood pH is generally kept between 7.35 and 7.45 in most areas of the body. The lungs, however, will maintain a pH of about 7.6 to increase oxygen uptake. This system is hugely important because pH needs to be kept in a certain range or else you can die. Why? Well, as I just mentioned, pH can dictate oxygen uptake and delivery in the body. Another important reason is that most proteins and enzymes must be in a certain pH to function. A pH change of 0.1 can mean the difference between working correctly and not working at all.
I mentioned that there are exceptions and studying these exceptions was one way we figured out how and why pH is so important. Diabetics, for example, can not uptake sugar very well, so their bodies must use other sources of energy like fats and proteins. When your body only uses these sources, it creates acidic by-products called ketone bodies. These by-products can cause the condition known as keto-acidosis, which can cause the body to quickly go into shock and cause death. The first symptoms of this can be seen when pH falls below 7.35 and severe acidosis involving coma and death occurs when pH drops below 7.00. Similarly, alkalosis can occur when the blood pH rises above 7.45 and can also result in death by convulsions.
The point here is that the body highly regulates the pH of your blood because if it swings one way or the other, you're looking at some serious consequences. This is the reason why your diet will not significantly effect your pH.
2) Experiments showing that cancer cells don't grow as well in alkaline environments as they do in other conditions does not necessarily translate to a treatment for a patient. There are no references to these experiments in the sources I have found and I could not find a corroborating article on PubMed, but let's talk about what we know about cancer. All things considered, cancer cells are often not too different from normal cells. If they were super different, the immune system wouldn't have a problem getting rid of it. A global change in pH that kills cancer cells will likely kill normal cells as well and could possibly cause some of the acidosis/alkalosis symptoms mentioned earlier. This is because cancer cells share most, if not all, of their proteins in common with normal cells. If they don't work, neither do your cells. In other words, normal cells would probably have also been killed in these test tube experiments, making the treatment untranslatable to the clinic.
3) Some articles claiming the benefits of these alkaline diets would contest what I said in my second point by saying that cancer cells actually depend on an acidic environment. Indeed, the microenvironment around tumors is slightly more acidic, but the logic here is backwards. The acidity is actually created by the cancer cells rather than the cancer depending on or resulting from it. This is because cancer cells do not perform metabolism normally. Instead of using glycolysis (breaking sugar) and sending the pieces through the Krebs cycle, it heavily uses glycolysis. This is known as the Warburg effect. This is what your muscles do when you work out and they need fast energy, they produce lactic acid. Cancer cells seem to do this all the time, resulting in a more acidic microenvironment. But as long as their proteins can work, they don't care about the pH of their environment. This means that they are no more dependent on the surrounding pH than your normal cells.
In the battle against cancer, it is important to distinguish between treatments that are helpful and treatments that are either useless or downright harmful. Diet actually can be important in the prevention of cancer, but not because of any effects it might have on the pH of your blood.
I will try to update my sources with more web links if needed but what I've written here is supported by:
http://drbenkim.com/ph-body-blood-foods-acid-alkaline.htm
The Biology of Cancer chapter 2
Principles of Biochemistry chapters 5 and 6
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