Drop the Dietary Acid and Drop the Pounds

Could reducing your “dietary acid load” be the next boon for weight loss? Perhaps! A recent 16-week trial discovered that following a low-fat, vegan diet reduced dietary acidity and resulted in a 13-pound weight loss compared to a Mediterranean diet. Taking eggs, dairy, and meat from your diet, and adding greens and beans, helps reduce inflammation to jump-start weight loss.

The randomized crossover study was done by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and published in Frontiers in Nutrition.

Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee and lead author of the study, noted, "Eating acid-producing foods like meat, eggs, and dairy can increase the dietary acid load, or the amount of acids consumed, causing inflammation linked to weight gain. But replacing animal products with plant-based foods like leafy greens, berries, and legumes can help promote weight loss and create a healthy gut microbiome."

The recent research included 62 overweight adults randomized to either a low-fat vegan diet or a Mediterranean diet for 16 weeks. A 4-week wash-out period was used then followed by 16 weeks of the alternate diet.

Subjects’ dietary records were utilized to calculate dietary acid load. This is typically estimated by two scores: Potential Renal Acid Load (PRAL) and Net Endogenous Acid Production (NEAP). A higher score is indicative of a higher dietary acid load.

Consuming animal products like cheese, eggs, fish, and meat causes the body to make more acid. This increased dietary acid load is associated with chronic inflammation, which disrupts metabolism and may contribute to weight gain. Plant-based diets are more alkaline and are linked with weight loss, better insulin sensitivity and reduced blood pressure.

In this new study, both PRAL and NEAP scores dropped significantly on the vegan diet, without major change on the Mediterranean diet. The decrease in dietary acid load was linked with weight loss, and this association stayed significant despite adjustment for changes in calorie intake. A 13.2-pound weight loss was observed with the vegan diet, compared to no change on the Mediterranean diet.

The study authors believe that a vegan diet has and alkalizing effect and helps increase the body’s pH levels to make it less acidic and promote weight loss. The top alkalizing foods include vegetables, especially leafy greens, broccoli, beets, asparagus, garlic, carrots, and cabbage. Fruits including apples, berries, cherries, apricots, or cantaloupe and legumes, such as lentils, chickpeas, peas, beans, or soy; and grains, such as quinoa or millet.

Considering a low-fat, vegan diet for weight loss? Try these tips:

·         Add chopped apricots or cherries to oatmeal.

·         Start and repeat meatless Monday most days of the week.

·         Swap lentils for beef when making Bolognese.

·         Add chopped spinach or kale to pasta, rice, soups, and stews.

·         Aim for a leafy green salad most days of the week.

·         Enjoy fresh berries or melon for dessert.

·         Include quinoa as a side dish or in a grain bowl.

·         Add peas or shredded carrots to salad or rice.

·         Replace cow’s milk with soy or other plant-based milk.

·         Roast asparagus, broccoli, or cabbage with garlic.

Lisa Andrews, MEd, RD, LD

Reference:

1. Hana Kahleova, Cristina Maracine, Joseph Himmelfarb, Arathi Jayaraman, Tatiana Znayenko-Miller, Richard Holubkov, Neal D. Barnard. Dietary acid load on the Mediterranean and a vegan diet: a secondary analysis of a randomized, cross-over trial. Frontiers in Nutrition, 2025; 12 DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1634215