Is Cocoa Butter Acidic or Alkaline?
Cocoa butter (raw) is neutral: PRAL close to zero: hardly shifts your acid-base balance.
Classification
As the pure fat of the cocoa bean, cocoa butter lands at 0.0: without protein and without any significant minerals, there is nothing to balance. Everything that makes cocoa alkaline stays behind in the defatted powder. In white chocolate, it meets sugar and milk powder, and only those ingredients bring any values into the calculation.
In the Sweets & Snacks category, cocoa butter (raw) ranks #42 of 91, sorted from alkaline to acid-forming. More alkaline options include Chewing gum (sugared) (0.0), Cotton candy (−0.1), Lollipop (−0.1). More acid-forming are Vanilla pudding (+0.2), Twix (+0.6), Brownie (+0.7).
Acidic or alkaline: PRAL, not pH
On this site, acidic and alkaline refer to the PRAL (potential renal acid load). It estimates what a food leaves behind once it has been digested: a positive value is acid-forming, a negative value is alkalizing. That is different from the pH of the food itself: a lemon tastes sour, yet its PRAL is −4.0, so it is alkalizing. Your diet does not change your blood pH. It does change how much acid your kidneys have to deal with.
Goes well with
Frequently Asked Questions
Is cocoa butter acidic?
It depends on what you mean by acidic. The pH describes the food itself, for example how sour it tastes. The PRAL describes what it leaves behind after digestion: Cocoa butter (raw) has a PRAL of 0.0 per 100 ml, so it counts as neutral in your daily acid-base balance.
Does cocoa butter count in the acid-base balance at all?
Hardly. At 0.0 per 100 ml, cocoa butter is in the neutral range between −0.5 and +0.5. You can eat it without shifting your balance.
Cocoa Butter logged, balance checked.
Basentracker adds up every meal automatically and shows whether your day is in the alkaline range. The same values as on this page, all 977 foods, photo scan, recipes.
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Compare all Sweets & Snacks: Sweets & Snacks table. Common questions are answered in Acidic or Alkaline?, and the PRAL calculator adds up a whole meal.
Source: Basentracker food database (PRAL according to Remer & Manz, calculated from protein, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium per 100 g). This information does not replace medical advice.