Effects of acidogenic diet forms on musculoskeletal function.

Chronic metabolic acidosis exerts well-characterized consequences on musculoskeletal function, including physicochemical dissolution of bone with calcium loss from bone, cellular effects on osteoblasts and osteoclasts and disturbed bone matrix mineralization. These mechanisms are responsible for the acidotic bone phenotype with features of both osteoporosis and osteomalacia. In addition, loss of muscle mass, sarcopenia and negative nitrogen balance are consequences of metabolic acidosis. It is becoming increasingly clear that these effects also occur as a consequence of the diet-induced acid loads characteristic of modern diets. Interventional, short- and long-term studies suggest that the result of neutralizing the diet-induced acid loads is skeletal calcium retention, decreased bone resorption and increases in bone mineral density, suggesting that such an intervention may have an important potential to prevent osteoporosis.