In my A & P class we are now studying the urinary system. The professor mentioned something I had never heard before. The benefit of acid urine. Its supposed to help protect against urinary infections, and bladder infections. He mentioned that vegetarians have a neutral or even basic urine. First is this generally true? Also, is there any benefit to an alkaline urine?

When the instructor said that there was a kind of silence in the class, like "?" He also mentioned that drinking cranberry juice doesn't help either, and that was started with the cranberry producers in their own studies to promote sales. Could this acid urine thing be something associated with meat and dairy producers?

I agree with him partially, the whole acid/alkaline theory is worse than overblowen, i don't know how or where it started but somewhere its gained momentum, many parts of the body remain acidic for a reason whether to repel various microbes or because they need to function i.e the stomach to digest and stave off opportunistic microbes, the skin remains slightly acidic etc.

But what he said about cranberry isn't true, although they aint all they are cracked up to in terms of fighting urinary infections they like blueberries have compounds which adhere to the bladder wall which stave off bacteria.

Interesting. I have no idea but I'll be reading whatever you guys say about this.

Urine is generally acidic in a healthy person, HOWEVER, the thing that is conspicously questionable to me is the bit about vegetarians having more basic or alkaline urine. My hand would have been up like a shot, "Um, professor, source, please?"

Tamukha,
Its not the first time he has stated something without citation. I think he said the acid part as being a sort of general knowledge thing. So, when you say that urine is slightly acid in a healthy person, thats for vegetarians also? If that is true, then what he said was just plain wrong.

Powerlifter,
What compounds in blueberries 'adhere to the bladder wall which stave off bacteria'? I believe that blueberries are very health promoting in general, but I never heard that one. They also taste good.

THeSt0rm,
I think the textbook is outdated,and biased for very traditional eating patterns. The last chapter on nutrition and metabolism had the government food pyramind, and mentioned 'complete proteins'. But did mention that vegetarians could combine foods to make 'complete proteins'. I think that is something which has been commented on here and other raw vegan boards. However, they did mention amino acid pools, and the bodies remarkable ability to convert molecules as needed. I didn't know that the body could make some of its own amino acids. i guess that makes sense as some are required in the diet and some are not. Duh... it seemed so remarkable when I read on how its done. It almost seemed like the body was cheating! but no, it was consistent with the concept of essential and non essential amino acids...

There are only 8 essential amino acids that the body can't manufacture or piece together from other sources on it's own. I think. That might be out of date now too.

Anyhow, the complete protein myth was debunked long ago, the body does need to have all the building blocks of protein available to make the things it needs but so long as they are consumed at some point and stored, they can be utilized when needed.

yup, although if I remember right, some cannot be stored by the body for long, so its important to have a balanced diet, which from what ive seen, for most people, almost seems EASIER as a vegan, tad bit more difficult on 100% raw, but not as hard as many professionals ive seen try to make it out as...one just needs a decent variety of yummy foods

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Mislu i think if i remember its the proanthocyanidins in cranberries and blueberries that prevent bacteria from adhering to the bladder wall.

coco,
The book is very old school on certain topics. Especially when it comes to essential amino acids. The text has emphasized amino acids and protein through out the book, whenever it can, I wouldn't be surprised if it was mentioned in every chapter! Last semester I had another instructor and she actually asked if anyone in the class was vegetarian. Almost as if the book and instructor was giving people a dire warning against veganism and vegetarianism. I thought that was strange. I know a hindu student opted out for one of the labs which required cutting up an animal part. He told me that he actually was recently vegetarian. I was surprised I thought hindus were almost always vegetarian.

The book has stated that amino acids cannot be stored. I don't know what that means, exactly. But I get the sense that they mean for years at a time, like vitamin A can be stored for a long time. The book believes that the average person has about a 2 year supply of vitamin A stored in the liver.

I finally read up to the point where the book mentioned the ph of urine. It said exactly what he said in class. High protein diets create acid urine. Also acid if one has a large amount of whole wheat in the diet. Neutral to slightly alkaline if vegetarian (alkaline diet). I am assuming moderate to low protein consumption without whole wheat? I said Ok, so that is his 'source'. Which is compiled by a number of people, and he actually edits the book for content, NOT for grammar and punctuation. So in a sense he is the source! Hes also a retired MD, so maybe he knows some of this stuff from experience. I don't know.

well, as long as it didn't specify high animal protein, it could be correct, who knows? even when I was doing near 100% raw for awhile there I was getting far more protein than the average person on SAD that I know, just my morning juice had like 29% of normal daily value... with a lot of greens and, well, variety in general, its a lot of protein...I think only a vegan or vegetarian that wasnt eating a very balanced diet would end up with low protein, and if they where about as active as the average american, it would probably still be "enough" protein for them to be generally healthy...protein wise...

As far as what ive read in the past, ive read that some amino acids can be stored for a short period of time, but not for a long time like vitamin A, B12, and others...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Curator,
Thank you for your input. I don't know about the book sometimes. Terms can be confusing, as 'stored' or 'a little', 'some' etc... I think amino acids can be one of those things were 'not stored' not particularly specified. It takes some time before its used in the body. I don't know if they mean hours, days?

Like vitamin C, that used to be said that its not stored, but I read somewhere that in fact the body can 'store' it. I don't remember the source. I have heard of people doing fasts and not having any problem like developing scurvy. I don't know if thats a great example, but its probably a good idea for everyone to get some vitamin c every day, prefered natural sources. Its easy to do with fresh fruits, vegetables, sprouts etc... Amino acids sound easy enough to get every day. I don't know why its such a topic in the book. maybe as you say, it could be the 'white bread' vegetarian, or the fried potato vegetarian that causes these comments to arise.