Is Safflower Oil Acidic or Alkaline?
Safflower oil (raw) is neutral: PRAL close to zero: hardly shifts your acid-base balance.
Classification
Safflower oil is pure fat with no protein, phosphorus or minerals, and without these building blocks there is nothing to count: 0.0 per 100 ml. That goes for every refined vegetable oil, whatever the seed. So oil is invisible in your acid-base balance, but not in your energy balance. At 900 kcal per 100 ml, even a few tablespoons on your salad add up.
In the Oils & Fats category, safflower oil (raw) ranks #11 of 22, sorted from alkaline to acid-forming. More alkaline options include Walnut oil (0.0), Soybean oil (0.0), Almond oil (0.0). More acid-forming are Olive oil (0.0), Lard (+0.1), Clarified butter (+0.1).
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 safflower oil 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: Safflower oil (raw) has a PRAL of 0.0 per 100 ml, so it counts as neutral in your daily acid-base balance.
Does safflower oil count in the acid-base balance at all?
Hardly. At 0.0 per 100 ml, safflower oil is in the neutral range between −0.5 and +0.5. You can eat it without shifting your balance.
Safflower Oil 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 Oils & Fats: Oils & Fats 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.