Is Lemon Acidic or Alkaline?
Lemon (fresh) is alkaline: Negative PRAL: alkalizing after digestion. Alkaline. Lemon tastes sour, but 100 g has a PRAL of −4.0, because what counts is not the taste but what is left after your body metabolizes it.
Classification
Lemons sit at −4.0 and are alkaline, even though they taste sour: the citric acid is fully metabolized, and what remains is the fruit's potassium. The lemon is the classic example of taste and PRAL having nothing to do with each other. The juice of half a lemon, about 25 ml, adds only about −0.6, though, because lemon juice is at −2.3 per 100 ml.
In the Fruit category, lemon (fresh) ranks #36 of 80, sorted from alkaline to acid-forming. More alkaline options include Nectarine (−4.0), Elderberry (−4.1), Cherimoya (−4.2). More acid-forming are Pomegranate (−3.8), Mirabelle plum (−3.8), White grapes (−3.8).
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.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is lemon 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: Lemon (fresh) has a PRAL of −4.0 per 100 g, so it counts as alkaline in your daily acid-base balance.
How much lemon do I need for a noticeable effect?
Juice of half a lemon (30 ml) of lemon adds −1.2 to your daily balance. For comparison: an egg is around +5.4, a slice of cheese around +6. So one serving of lemon roughly offsets one of them.
Why is lemon alkaline even though it tastes sour?
The PRAL depends on the minerals left over after digestion, not on taste or pH. Lemon provides more potassium, magnesium and calcium than phosphorus and protein, so the balance is negative (−4.0).
Lemon 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 Fruit: Fruit 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.