Discover Why Alkaline Ph Food Is Recommended
The old version of this page recommended milk with dates or bananas at night and never got round to alkaline food. The title asks why alkaline food is recommended, so this version checks who does the recommending. On one side are the research papers that score foods by acid load. On the other are two official diet guides, from the World Health Organization and the NHS.
What the acid-load papers say
In 1995, Remer and Manz of the Research Institute of Child Nutrition in Dortmund calculated a “potential renal acid load” (PRAL) for common foods (PubMed 7797810). Their values ran from about 23.6 mEq per 100 g for certain hard cheeses, through 0 for fats and oils, down to about −3 for fruits, fruit juices and vegetables. They also found a correlation of r = .83 between net acid excretion and urine pH, and wrote that the method “allows an appropriate prediction of the effects of diet on the acidity of urine.”
A 2012 review by Gerry Schwalfenberg (PubMed 22013455) puts it simply: “Foods can be categorized by the potential renal acid loads.” Foods with a negative acid load include fruits, vegetables, fruit juices, potatoes and mineral soda waters. Grain products, meats, dairy products and fish “have relatively high acid loads”.
A 2011 systematic review by Fenton and colleagues (PubMed 21529374) notes that alkaline diets and products are marketed to “help the body regulate its pH”. On dietary acid load and bone disease, it concluded “there is no evidence that an alkaline diet is protective of bone health.”
What the WHO healthy diet fact sheet asks for
The WHO fact sheet on healthy diet, dated 26 January 2026, says everyone older than 10 “should aim for at least 400 grams of fruits and vegetables per day”. It limits salt to “less than 5 grams per day” for adults. It says a potassium intake of at least 3510 mg a day for adults “may be beneficial”, and that potassium “can be increased by consuming fresh fruit and vegetables.”
The words “alkaline” and “pH” do not appear anywhere on that page.
What the NHS Eatwell Guide asks for
The NHS Eatwell Guide asks for at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day, making up “just over a third of the food we eat each day”. Starchy foods such as potatoes, bread, rice and pasta should make up another “just over a third”. It also asks for “some dairy or alternatives”, and calls milk, cheese and yoghurt “good sources of protein and some vitamins” and “an important source of calcium”. It suggests lower-fat choices such as semi-skimmed milk and reduced-fat cheese.
That page does not mention “alkaline” or “pH” either.
Where the lists agree, and where they part
On fruit and vegetables, the lists overlap. Fruits and vegetables sit on Schwalfenberg’s negative side, and those are the foods the WHO wants at 400 g a day and the NHS wants as just over a third of the day’s food. So part of the answer to “why is alkaline food recommended” is that much of what scores as alkaline is fruit and vegetables, which both guides already ask for.
They part on grains and dairy. In Schwalfenberg’s Table 2, brown rice scores 12.5 and white rice 4.6, while the dairy rows run from 34.2 for Parmesan down to 0.5 for buttermilk, with whole milk at 0.7. The NHS still asks for starchy foods as a third of the plate and for some dairy. Fenton’s review, looking only at bone outcomes, found that randomised studies “did not provide evidence for an adverse role of phosphate, milk, and grain foods”.
Where dates sit
Schwalfenberg’s Table 2 lists no dates. The PRAL equation quoted by Scialla and Anderson in 2013 (PubMed 23439373) is 0.49 × protein + 0.037 × phosphorus − 0.021 × potassium − 0.026 × magnesium − 0.013 × calcium. Applied to USDA FoodData Central’s Deglet Noor record (171726: protein 2.45 g, phosphorus 62 mg, potassium 656 mg, magnesium 43 mg, calcium 39 mg per 100 g), it gives about −11.9 per 100 g. A 30 g portion comes to about −3.6.
The NHS 5 A Day page counts “a 30g portion of dried fruit, such as currants, dates, sultanas and figs” as 1 of your 5 A Day, but says it “should be eaten at mealtimes, not as a snack between meals”. That 30 g of Deglet Noor carries about 197 mg of potassium, or 5.6% of the WHO’s 3510 mg figure.
Dates score on the negative side and count towards 5 A Day, so they fit both lists. A 30 g portion is still one small part of the day, and the Eatwell Guide asks people to “try to get the balance right over a day or even a week.”
For a worked example that scores a glass of milk, nuts and dates on the same scale, see why alkaline pH food is suggested. Background on Date Fruits is on the About page, and the Contact page has a message form and a WhatsApp link.