Is Vegetable Soup Acidic or Alkaline?
Vegetable soup (prepared) is alkaline: Negative PRAL: alkalizing after digestion.
Classification
Vegetable soup is in the alkaline range at −1.4 per 100 ml: the potassium from carrots, leeks and celery passes into the cooking water, and you eat that water too. There's hardly any protein, but all the broth dilutes the effect. Adding noodles shrinks the minus, meatballs can tip the balance into positive territory, and at 25 kcal per 100 ml the soup stays light.
In the Meals & Fast Food category, vegetable soup (prepared) ranks #20 of 118, sorted from alkaline to acid-forming. More alkaline options include Pea stew (−1.8), Mashed potatoes (instant) (−2.2), Potato dumplings (half and half) (−2.6). More acid-forming are Tzatziki (−1.2), Pea soup (−1.2), Bean soup (−1.1).
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 vegetable soup 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: Vegetable soup (prepared) has a PRAL of −1.4 per 100 ml, so it counts as alkaline in your daily acid-base balance.
How much vegetable soup do I need for a noticeable effect?
A meal (300 g) of vegetable soup adds −4.0 to your daily balance. For comparison: an egg is around +5.4, a slice of cheese around +6. So one serving of vegetable soup roughly offsets one of them.
Why is vegetable soup alkaline even though it is not a typical alkaline food?
The PRAL depends on the minerals left over after digestion, not on taste or pH. Vegetable soup provides more potassium, magnesium and calcium than phosphorus and protein, so the balance is negative (−1.4).
Vegetable Soup 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 Meals & Fast Food: Meals & Fast Food 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.