Alkaline foods for baby
Babies Hospitalized with Rickets & Brain Damage After Parents Fed Them Alkaline Diet Formula - Be part of the knowledge
08/31/2021dailymail.co.uk
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Newborns have been hospitalized with rickets and brain damage after being fed restrictive alkaline-diet formulas by their parents. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said between August 2020 February 2021 three infants were hospitalized after consuming 'nutritionally deficient' homemade formulas based on alkaline diet recipes.
The three infants were treated in separate emergency departments in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware for severe hypocalcemia and rickets.
According to their parents, each of the infants was fed a homemade formula that followed the alkaline diet that contained ingredients like sea moss, hemp seeds, dates, coconut water, and alkaline water but had insufficient nutrients like vitamin D and calcium, insider. com reported.
The alkaline diet is promoted to fight disease and cancer but is not supported by scientific evidence.
The celebrity-backed diet promotes the idea that eating alkaline food, which include raw fruits and veggies, nuts, legumes, and soy, while limiting acidic foods like animal products and grains, can help the body maintain a healthy pH balance.
The report described one four-month-old who had been on alkaline formula for a month who was found unresponsive in the home after suffering respiratory distress earlier this year.
The four-month-old had to be intubated and receive mechanical ventilation and after being resuscitated doctors found he'd suffered brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen, as well as serious electrolyte deficiencies.
The baby also had symptoms of rickets- the softening and weakening of bones from an extreme vitamin D deficiency.
Around the same time, a five-month-old also went to the emergency room with stiff limbs, skin discoloration, and trouble breathing after two months on an alkaline-diet formula.
Lab test showed he had low calcium levels and bone deformities consistent with rickets.
He was given an IV loaded with calcium and magnesium and sent home after being put on a commercial infant formula diet.
The report also said in August 2020 a nine-month-old boy arrived at the hospital after five days of irritability.
He was found to be underweight, short for his age and had a misshapen head.
The baby also could not sit up without assistance and had poor motor skills.
Tests also showed the baby was deficient in calcium, vitamin D, and iodine and he was diagnosed with rickets.
He was given supplements and discharged to a long-term care facility.
The CDC and the FDA have issued warnings about the use of homemade infant formula and said these three cases highlight the potential for 'grave consequences' for parents who feed their children homemade formulas.
'Infants fed an alternative diet can develop severe deficiencies and experience long-lasting developmental consequences,' the report said.
The CDC said parents should turn to more traditional breast milk or commercial formula diets which contain the vitamins and nutrients babies need for optimal growth and development.
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Babies on Homemade Formula Hospitalized With Rickets
- Three babies were hospitalized with rickets and other deficiencies linked to homemade formula.
- The alkaline-diet formulas contained ingredients like sea moss, coconut water, and hemp seeds.
- Sea moss is a good source of iodine, but too much can be dangerous, especially in children.
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Infants are being hospitalized with rickets and brain injuries after being fed homemade alkaline-diet formulas, according to a new report out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The formulas, presumably based on the celebrity-endorsed alkaline diet, contained ingredients like sea moss, hemp seeds, dates, coconut water, and alkaline water but had insufficient nutrients like vitamin D and calcium.
The alkaline diet, which has little scientific support, promotes the idea that eating alkaline foods (like raw fruits and veggies, nuts, legumes, and soy) and limiting acidic foods (like animal products and grains) helps the body maintain a healthy PH and reap health benefits.
The authors of the report say the babies' cases illustrate the dangers of homemade formulas, emphasizing that breast milk and commercial formulas contain the vitamins and nutrients babies need for optimal growth and development.
One baby needed to be resuscitated, and all had bone deformities
The report describes three babies in three states who experienced life-threatening deficiencies believed to be linked to their formulas.
One 4-month-old who'd been on an alkaline formula for a month had to be intubated and receive mechanical ventilation after he became unresponsive at home.
Despite the emergency services, which also included IV fluid replacement, the baby had multiple episodes of cardiac arrest and a severely low heart rate.
After resuscitating him, doctors found he'd suffered brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen, as well as serious electrolyte deficiencies. He also had symptoms of rickets, or the softening and weakening of bones from an extreme vitamin D deficiency.
Another baby, a 5-month-old, went to the emergency room with stiffened limbs, bluish skin, and breathing issues after two months on an alkaline-diet formula. Tests showed low calcium levels and bone deformities indicative of rickets. He was given an IV loaded with calcium and magnesium and sent home after being put on a commercial infant formula.
The third baby, a 9-month-old boy, arrived at the hospital after five days of irritability. He was found to be small and short for his age and had a misshapen head. He couldn't sit up by himself and had poor motor skills. Tests also showed the baby was deficient in calcium, vitamin D, and iodine.
He was given supplements and discharged to a long-term care facility.
The authors cautioned parents to steer clear of homemade formulas, which can lead to long-term developmental consequences and life-threatening conditions like heart failure. The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration have strongly advised against such formulas.
Too much or too little iodine, found in sea moss, can be dangerous
Even though the alkaline diet isn't science-backed, it can still be healthy for adults. But attempting to create an alkaline-diet infant formula is risky.
Sea moss, an ingredient in each of the three infants' formulas, contains heavy amounts of iodine, which is an essential nutrient for growth and development. The third baby, whose parents stopped including sea moss in his formula a few months before hospitalization, needed iodine supplementation.
But it's also possible to consume too much iodine. The nutrient should be eaten only in small amounts, especially in children.
Too much iodine can cause thyroid damage and interfere with hormone balance, according to WebMD. The third infant in the report had a thyroid-stimulating hormone level of 94,600 mU/L; a normal level is 0.5 to 5 mU/L.
It's unclear how much sea moss the infants in the report consumed.
Alkaline foods: list, table, rules of use
Many concepts in nutrition are demonized and taken out of context, so sometimes they don't sound quite right. Since humans are omnivores, we consume both animal and plant foods. Any food of animal origin is acidic. Food of plant origin is alkaline, and the combination of acid and alkali results in neutralization and balance. We tell how this affects our body, and also give a table of alkaline and acidic foods.
Each body environment has a strictly defined pH - acidity level. For example, the most acidic level of acidity is in the stomach, where aggressive gastric juice is formed, which helps a person digest food. Blood, lymph, intercellular substance, skin surface, mucous membranes of various organs have strictly their own programmed pH level and this level is unchanged.
In ordinary life, these levels can shift by hundredths - this is not critical. If a person's environment is significantly shifted, then this person is a resuscitation patient. Therefore, in conventional laboratories, pH is not measured, it is only needed for resuscitation. In a healthy person, the pH balance is uniquely programmed by nature, but due to various phenomena, such as excess carbohydrate food, excessive refined food, large amounts of salt, food additives, lack of sleep, alcohol, smoking, poor environment, increased stress levels and constant deadlines, as well as all chronic diseases, including obesity, give us high acidity. There is even such a thing as an "acid person" - a tired person with gray skin, edema. Due to the wrong lifestyle, the level of acidity rises and the aging process starts in the body. In this case, it will be useful to alkalize the body - the use of any plant products that have a slightly alkaline environment, that is, pH- (minus). When the body is alkalized, any plants will be friends to us.
Also do not rank various vegetables and fruits according to their alkalinity. There are a lot of tablets that are invented by nutritionists. They are not doctors, so you should not be guided by such signs, but you should perceive them only as a beautiful advertising substrate.
Let us recall, for example, Dr. Herbert Shelton, the founder of the separate food system, which still has many adherents. So, Dr. Shelton is an adventurer who worked without a license and starved many of his patients to death. Many lawsuits were filed against him, he was in prison several times, even ran for the presidency of America. He created an illiterate medical system of separate meals, because this system was created by an adventurer, not a doctor. Roughly the same thing is happening now. Dividing by pH is all trickery, but there is some truth to it.
It is definitely harmful if a person eats only animal food in his diet, combining it with highly refined, for example, fast food. In everyday life, healthy people do not eat like this.
Ideal healthy food is a combination of the right animal and plant foods. For example, a side dish of seasonal vegetables, fresh or stewed, is ideal for meat or fish.
There are a lot of queries on the Internet about "which foods are alkaline". This is a category that neutralizes acids and regulates the acid-base balance. Almost all vegetables and fruits, with the exception of potatoes, beans, cherries, blueberries, cranberries and prunes, belong to the category. When alkalizing the body, you should add broccoli, asparagus, vegetable juices, onions, raw spinach to your diet, since they are the richest in alkaline-forming properties.
Do not forget that for normal life the body must receive all the necessary nutrients, that is, consume not only alkaline products that reduce acidity - acidifying must also be present in the diet. However, the use of some of them should be limited, for example, highly acidic ones include: potatoes, sugar, chocolate, meat, white rice, flour products, coffee, as well as beer and soft drinks.
Excessive consumption of highly acidic foods shifts the pH to the acid side and negatively affects the general condition of the body.
The main thing is the right combination
Any plant food has alkaline properties, while animal food is slightly acidic. When we skillfully combine them, we get a balanced diet. When our nourishment deviates into some more preferred food, we become sick. For example, if a person constantly eats fatty foods, he may develop obesity, gout, swelling and other diseases. At the same time, if a person becomes an orthodox zealous vegetarian and eats only plant foods, he will have even more diseases, for example, a decrease in hormonal levels, anemia, protein deficiency, weak immune system resistance, and others. Therefore, balance is important in nutrition.
Alkaline foods for the human body: a list of the best and worst
Classification of foods based on their effect on the body's pH balance.
Highly alkalizing
| Fruit | lemon, watermelon, lime, grapefruit, mango, papaya |
| Vegetables, legumes | asparagus, onion, vegetable juices, parsley, garlic, raw spinach, broccoli |
| Drinks | herbal teas, lemon water |
Alkaline
| Fruit | dates, figs, melons, grapes, papaya, kiwi, berries, apples, pears, raisins |
| Vegetables, legumes | pumpkin, green beans, beetroot, sweet potato, celery, lettuce, zucchini |
| Nuts, seeds | almonds |
| Oils | linseed oil |
| Eggs, dairy products | breast milk |
| Drinks | green tea |
Slightly alkalizing
| Sweets, sweeteners | fresh honey, raw sugar |
| Fruit | oranges, bananas, cherries, pineapple, peaches, avocados |
| Vegetables, legumes | carrots, tomatoes, fresh corn, mushrooms, cabbage, peas, potatoes with skins, olives, soybeans, tofu |
| Nuts, seeds | chestnuts |
| Oils | rapeseed oil |
| Cereals | amaranth, millet, wild rice, quinoa |
| Eggs, dairy products | soy cheese, soy milk, goat milk, goat cheese, whey |
| Drinks | ginger tea |
Slightly acidic
| Sweets, sweeteners | processed honey, molasses |
| Fruit | plums, canned fruit juices |
| Vegetables, legumes | cooked spinach, beans |
| Nuts, seeds | pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds |
| Oils | corn oil |
| Cereals | sprouted wheat bread, spelt, brown rice |
| Meat, fish, seafood | venison, fish from cold seas |
| Eggs, dairy products | eggs, butter, yoghurt, buttermilk, cottage cheese |
| Drinks | tea |
Acidifying
| Sweets, sweeteners | white sugar, brown sugar |
| Fruit | cherry |
| Vegetables, legumes | potatoes (no skin), variegated beans, white beans, crescent beans, rhubarb |
| Nuts, seeds | pecan, cashew |
| Cereals | white rice, corn, buckwheat, oats, rye |
| Meat, fish, seafood | turkey, chicken, lamb |
| Eggs, dairy products | raw milk |
| Drinks | coffee |
Highly acidic
| Sweets, sweeteners: | nutrasvit, aspartame |
| Fruit: | blueberries, cranberries, prunes |
| Vegetables, legumes | cocoa, chocolate |
| Nuts, seeds | peanuts, walnuts |
| Cereals | wheat, white flour, biscuits, pasta |
| Meat, fish, seafood | beef, pork, shellfish |
| Eggs, dairy products | cheese, homogenized milk, ice cream |
| Drinks | beer, soft drinks |
list of alkaline foods.
Acidic and alkaline products. Contents
- Alkaline foods: table
- Benefits of Alkaline Foods
- Sugar oxidizes the body
- Professor Neumyvakin on alkaline foods
- 1. Drink plenty of water
- 2. Avoid overeating
- 3. Chew food thoroughly
- 4. Maintain the acid-base balance in the body
- Examples of alkaline products
Bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, pathogens simply cannot survive in the alkaline environment of the body. On the contrary, they feel good in an acidic environment, this is an excellent environment not only for their comfortable life, but also for active reproduction.
To shift the acid-base balance of the body in the direction of alkali, it is recommended to follow three recommendations. First of all, avoid negative emotions . Emotions such as fear, aggression, hatred, resentment, jealousy, despondency, and so on have an acidifying effect on the body.
Controlling your emotions is the first step to a healthy body, mind, and mind. The second factor is breathing, slow and deep breathing contributes to the gradual alkalization of the body. Well, the last recommendation - you need change your diet .
The acid-base balance of the foods we consume determines the Ph of our body. Alkaline foods in the diet lead to an increase in Ph levels and, as a result, to better health. Conversely, foods that lower the Ph level promote the reproduction of bacteria, viruses, parasites and the development of many diseases.
Healthy alkaline foods are the key to health. And in order to control the acid-base balance of the body, you should figure out which foods are alkaline and which are acidic. The high Ph of alkaline foods allows you to "block" the use of acidic foods, if they are in the minority in the diet. So, let's try to figure out which foods are alkaline?
As mentioned above, the acid-base balance of foods affects the Ph of our body.
Thus, to eliminate health problems, it is enough to find out which foods create an alkaline environment, and then follow such an “alkaline diet”. The list of alkaline foods mainly consists of fruits and vegetables, and this is not surprising - such foods are the most natural and healthy for us.
So, consider the table of alkaline products according to the degree of alkalization:
| Sour | Neutral | Alkaline |
| Meat | spring water | Greenery |
| Fish | river water | Berries |
| Eggs | Tap water | Fruits |
| refined sugar | Vegetable oils | Vegetables |
| Alcoholic drinks | Honey | Dried fruits |
| Dairy | Asparagus | |
| Alcohol | cayenne pepper | |
| Sparkling water | ||
| nuts | ||
| Legumes | ||
| Cereals |
Alkaline foods allow you to increase the level of Ph, thereby creating an unfavorable environment for bacteria, viruses, parasites, and so on.
Acid environment is almost the cause of any disease. A low Ph level is unfavorable for the body, so the body begins to artificially alkalize itself, which leads to an overuse of such important trace elements as calcium, magnesium, zinc, and so on. This leads to the fact that these trace elements are washed out of the tissues of the body.
Back in the last century, the German biochemist Otto Warburg noticed a connection between the formation of tumors and the acid-base balance of the body. So cancer cells actively multiply in an acidic environment and, on the contrary, in an alkaline environment, they die in just a few hours.
It is important to understand that nutrition alone cannot solve the problem, but the exclusion of blood-acidifying foods from the diet will already allow you to take a step towards a healthy life. The most acidifying effect is produced by products of animal origin. Meat, fish, eggs - to a greater extent, to a lesser extent - dairy products. Also, flour products lower the Ph level.
It is not for nothing that we have been told from childhood about the dangers of sweets. You can often hear that eating a lot of sweets leads to tooth decay. And there is such a popular misconception that sweets have only a direct harmful effect on the teeth, which is easy to neutralize by brushing your teeth. Alas, the sweet has an effect primarily through the acidification of the blood. Refined sugar greatly lowers the pH of the blood, which in turn leads, as mentioned above, to the leaching of calcium, including from the teeth. Therefore, the consumption of sweets leads to the destruction of teeth, bones, nails, and so on.
Alas, not even all plant foods are alkaline. So highly concentrated protein also acidifies the blood, so nuts, seeds, legumes lower the Ph level, but to a much lesser extent than the above products do. Therefore, the use of nuts, seeds and legumes is acceptable, but they should not be abused. The same applies to cereals, they have a slight acidifying effect on the body.
When it comes to alkaline foods, fruits, berries and vegetables, and greens remain the most popular alkaline foods. The use of these products in their raw form will gradually shift the acid-base balance of the body towards alkali.
Of course, eating only raw vegetables, fruits and berries is not a diet for everyone. Therefore, their content in the diet is recommended to be at least 70%, and the rest of the food can be represented by traditional thermally processed dishes, but preferably without strong acidifiers: meat, fish and eggs. And it is also desirable to minimize the use of starchy foods and sweets, ideally completely eliminated.
Ivan Neumyvakin is the head of the department of medical support for space flights at the Institute of Biomedical Problems. Studying the health problems of astronauts, he came to the conclusion that diseases do not exist, there are only the consequences of an unhealthy and self-destructive lifestyle.
First of all, Neumyvakin advises to drink plenty of water - 1.
5-2 liters per day to flush out toxins from the body. He recommends drinking water on an empty stomach 15 minutes before meals, but at the same time refraining from drinking water during or immediately after meals. “Water” in this case refers to pure water. Tea, coffee, etc. are not included here.
The second main recommendation is to avoid overeating and eat only when there is an appetite. It is important to distinguish between psychological and physical hunger. Chewing something delicious is more of a thirst for emotions and pleasant sensations, rather than hunger. According to Neumyvakin, a person overeats an average of four to five times!
Neumyvakin also recommends chewing food thoroughly to a completely liquid state. Firstly, it allows you to moisten food with saliva, which already starts the process of its assimilation, and, secondly, well-chewed food, in principle, is better digested.
But Neumyvakin considered the most important rule to maintain the acid-base balance in the body , and for this, in his opinion, the diet should contain 75% alkaline food and 25% acidic.
To alkaline foods, he attributed fruits, young green peas and beans, as well as berries and vegetables.
The most acidic, according to Neumyvakin, are absolutely all fats of animal origin - meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, sausages, and so on. Also, acid products, according to Neumyvakin, should include flour products, both bakery and pasta. He also recommends avoiding refined sugar.
Consider three products for their effects on the body.
Lemon
Lemon - alkaline or acidic? Surely most will say that this is an acidic product. But, oddly enough, this is not the case. The fact is that the acidity or alkalinity of a product is not determined at all by its taste, but by how this product affects the body during biochemical reactions during digestion - whether it alkalizes or acidifies it. And lemon is an alkaline food. It is worth saying that the use of lemon in its pure form in large quantities can adversely affect tooth enamel: lemon juice acts extremely aggressively on it, thinning and contributing to the appearance of cracks.
Therefore, the best option would be to use lemon water - lemon juice diluted in water to taste. This will have a good alkalizing effect.
Ginger
Another example is ginger. It also has an alkalizing effect on the body. You can use it by adding it to different dishes, or add chopped ginger to tea. But it is worth noting that it has a very specific taste, which not everyone will like.
Buckwheat
Here a question may arise based on the foregoing, because we attributed cereals to slightly acidic products. Yes that's right. But also, as in the case of lemon, a slight cognitive dissonance awaits us again - buckwheat is not a cereal. Relatively speaking, buckwheat can be attributed ... to vegetables. At least, this is a herbaceous plant, which is a close "relative", for example, sorrel. And buckwheat seeds are what we used to call buckwheat.
However, it is worth noting that the brown buckwheat we are used to is steamed buckwheat seeds, and heat treatment leads to the fact that the product subsequently has an acidifying effect on the body.
Weak, but there. Therefore, only green buckwheat can be attributed to alkalizing products, this is less common on sale, but it is more useful in terms of an alkaline diet. In addition, in a product that has not been subjected to heat treatment, more useful substances are retained.
So, we examined the main types of products and their division according to the principle of alkalization / acidification of the body. It is clear that it is not so easy to drastically change your diet. All that can be recommended is to gradually increase the percentage of raw plant foods in the diet: fruits, vegetables, berries, and also drink juices from these products, they are perfectly absorbed, saturate the body with vitamins and alkalize it perfectly. But the use of animal products, if possible, is best minimized, and it is better to completely exclude from the diet. But the most important thing is a positive attitude, non-susceptibility to negative emotions, a smile on the face, joy in the heart and a benevolent attitude towards the world.
