The balance of acid-forming and base-forming elements in foods, and its relation to ammonia metabolism

Abstract

In continuation of previous work1 ash analyses have been made of a number of foods and from the percentages of total sulphur, phosphorus and chlorine on the one hand, and of sodium, potasium, calcium and magnesium on the other, the excess of acid over base or of base over acid which will result from the oxidation of the food has been calculated. Previous ash analyses have also been studied and supplemented by such determinations as were necessary to permit the calculation of this balance for a wide range of food materials. Meats and eggs show a predominance of acid-forming elements ; in fruits and vegetables the base-forming elements predominate. From this standpoint the fruits and vegetables tend to balance the meats of the diet. Milk and the cereals contain acid-forming and base-forming elements in more nearly equivalent proportions.Through the kindness of Mr. L. H. Smith, samples of corn which had been bred through ten generations for high and low protein content respectively were obtained from the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station. The ash-analyses of these were very similar except for the higher sulphur content of the high protein corn, which resulted in this sample showing a slight predominance of acid-forming elements, while in the low protein corn the baseforming elements predominated.In order to determine to what extent the excess of acid brought University and Belleoue Hos9ital Medical College. May 17, 1911.

Bone buffering of acid and base in humans

“…2) The urinary excretion of SO 4 2Ϫ , reflecting the oxidation of sulfur contained in the neutral amino acids methionine, cysteine, or cystine of dietary protein or endogenous tissue proteins during starvation (28,41,71) that is also accompanied by the generation of an equivalent quantity of H ϩ . Additionally, it was known that normal foods in the diet contain bases, as actual HCO 3 Ϫ or potential HCO 3 Ϫ as inorganic cationic salts (principally K-salts) of metabolizable organic anions such as citrate, acetate, etc.…”

The Relation of Sulfur Metabolism to Acid-Base Balance and Electrolyte Excretion: The Effects of Dl-Methionine in Normal Man*†

“…In the classical calculation of the "acidbase balance" of food each Mole of sulfur in the ash is assigned an acid equivalence of two, thus assuming its quantitative conversion to sulfuric acid or to some other strong acid or acids which yield a total of two equivalents of hydrogen ion per Mole of sulfur (1).…”

Influence of organic salts of potassium on bone health: Possible mechanisms of action for the role of fruit and vegetables

“…Protein-containing foods produced acid ash whereas fruits and vegetables produced alkaline ash. Although later work has highlighted some discrepancies, most of the foods would be in the correct category using today's criteria [21].…”