3 ms·

Whatever you eat gets dissolved by something like 10-20 teaspoons of stomach acid, which is roughly 100x-500x more acidic (linear scale) than honey. By the time

Whatever you eat gets dissolved by something like 10-20 teaspoons of stomach acid, which is roughly 100x-500x more acidic (linear scale) than honey. By the time it gets there a teaspoon of honey is not making a dent in the overall acidity.

karlshea 4y ago
My father got caught up in nutrition conspiracy and "alkaline diets", and now won't have a milkshake with a hamburger because "all the milk makes it harder to digest" since according to him it's neutralizing your stomach acid. I think it's mostly that somewhere along the line he missed how logarithmic scales work.
- Fnoord 4y ago
  Oh yeah, I read a book on that ages ago (start of millennium), by some fellow called Harvey Diamond. Just looked him up, looks like his royalties have dwindled and his son got jail time for a ponzi scheme. Hey, if it leads to your father consuming less unhealthy food (which milkshake and hamburger both arguably are) it works. Just for a different reason. And that different reason gives the faulty one credibility.
  - karlshea 4y ago
    > Hey, if it leads to your father consuming less unhealthy food (which milkshake and hamburger both arguably are) it works Unfortunately not, he just eats them at separate times!
schiffern 4y ago
>stomach acid Apples and oranges. Unlike eating and excreting, the production (and destruction) of stomach acid doesn't change the body's overall pH. Rather, the body produces acid by dumping alkalinity (specifically potassium bicarbonate) into the blood plasma.[0] [0] https://teachmephysiology.com/gastrointestinal-system/stomach/acid-production/ https://teachmephysiology.com/gastrointestinal-system/stomac...
- CaptainNegative 4y ago
  Excretion is the key point. There's no conservation law for acidity in a system that can selectively excrete acids or bases as necessary, as can all individuals without serious metabolic conditions. If those who ate too few acids found a way to induce the excretion of too many of them, then they'd be in trouble.
  - schiffern 4y ago
    I agree, it's not as simple as pH balance. The body is a complex adaptive system. However, the mere fact that the body can remove something doesn't mean it's healthy, or that it doesn't stress the excretory system. See: ethanol, for example.

karlshea 4y ago

My father got caught up in nutrition conspiracy and "alkaline diets", and now won't have a milkshake with a hamburger because "all the milk makes it harder to digest" since according to him it's neutralizing your stomach acid. I think it's mostly that somewhere along the line he missed how logarithmic scales work.

Fnoord 4y ago
Oh yeah, I read a book on that ages ago (start of millennium), by some fellow called Harvey Diamond. Just looked him up, looks like his royalties have dwindled and his son got jail time for a ponzi scheme. Hey, if it leads to your father consuming less unhealthy food (which milkshake and hamburger both arguably are) it works. Just for a different reason. And that different reason gives the faulty one credibility.
- karlshea 4y ago
  > Hey, if it leads to your father consuming less unhealthy food (which milkshake and hamburger both arguably are) it works Unfortunately not, he just eats them at separate times!

schiffern 4y ago

>stomach acid Apples and oranges. Unlike eating and excreting, the production (and destruction) of stomach acid doesn't change the body's overall pH. Rather, the body produces acid by dumping alkalinity (specifically potassium bicarbonate) into the blood plasma.[0] [0] https://teachmephysiology.com/gastrointestinal-system/stomach/acid-production/ https://teachmephysiology.com/gastrointestinal-system/stomac...

CaptainNegative 4y ago
Excretion is the key point. There's no conservation law for acidity in a system that can selectively excrete acids or bases as necessary, as can all individuals without serious metabolic conditions. If those who ate too few acids found a way to induce the excretion of too many of them, then they'd be in trouble.
- schiffern 4y ago
  I agree, it's not as simple as pH balance. The body is a complex adaptive system. However, the mere fact that the body can remove something doesn't mean it's healthy, or that it doesn't stress the excretory system. See: ethanol, for example.