Acidic Foods: The 25 Most Acidic Foods and What to Eat Instead

Acidic foods are foods that either taste acidic because they have a low pH, like lemons, vinegar and soda, or leave acid behind for your kidneys to clear after you digest them, like cheese, eggs, meat and grains, while most vegetables and fruits leave a base.12 You don't need to fear acidic foods, because your body was designed to hold its blood pH in a narrow, steady range, but I do want you to balance them with plenty of vegetables and fruits, which is where the alkaline minerals your body uses should come from.10116

Those two kinds of acid matter in different places. The acid you can taste touches your teeth and, if you have reflux, the lining of your esophagus, while the acid-forming kind is handled inside your body by your blood's buffers and your kidneys, which send the extra out in your urine.412 For the acid-forming kind, the fix is the way people ate for most of human history, with far more potassium-rich plants than most of us eat today, balanced with clean animal foods.136

The 25 most acidic foods are listed below, measured both ways, along with the non-acidic foods to eat more of and the swaps that make the balance easy. On my show, I've put the food-first point simply:

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What are acidic foods?

"Acidic" describes two different measurements, and it helps to keep them apart.

The first is pH, the acidity you can taste. The scale runs from 0 to 14, with 7 as neutral and anything below it acidic, and lemon and lime juice sit near the bottom of the food chart at 2.00 to 2.60, vinegar at 2.40 to 3.40 and tomatoes at 4.30 to 4.90.1 Most vegetables sit much closer to neutral: spinach measures 5.50 to 6.80 and broccoli 6.30 to 6.85.1 This is the acidity that meets your teeth and, when reflux is part of the picture, your esophagus.

The second meaning is about what happens after you eat. Once your body breaks a food down, it leaves behind either a little acid for your kidneys to clear or a little base, and researchers measure that with a number called the potential renal acid load, or PRAL, a modern, measured version of the old "acid ash" idea. Protein and phosphorus push the number up, while potassium, magnesium and calcium, the alkaline minerals plants are rich in, pull it down.142 When researchers ran this calculation on 114 common foods in 1995, hard cheeses scored the highest, fats and oils came out at zero, and fruits, fruit juices and vegetables landed below zero. They also found that a diet's calculated acid load closely tracked how acidic people's urine was, which shows the number reflects what your kidneys are handling.2

Every PRAL number on this page comes from USDA FoodData Central records, run through that same published equation, because the 1995 table may no longer reflect some of the foods on our shelves today.31415 You'll see each one as milliequivalents (mEq) per 100 grams: a number above zero means the food leaves acid for your kidneys, and a number below zero means it leaves a base.

The two scales don't always agree, and the lemon shows why. Its juice has a pH of 2.00 to 2.60, yet it carries more potassium than acid-forming protein and phosphorus, so once you digest it, it leaves a small net base behind, at −1.9.13 Tomatoes (−4.1), oranges (−3.6) and strawberries (−2.5) work the same way, and that's the true part of the old saying that lemon water is alkalizing.3

The 25 most acidic foods

Here are the 25 most acidic foods, in three groups. The first 14 are the most acid-forming common foods by PRAL, calculated from USDA data, and the last 11 are the most acidic drinks and sour foods by pH, the kind you can taste.341 Several of the top acid-forming foods are nourishing foods worth eating, so the last column of each table tells you what to do with each one, and the next section explains the balance.

The most acid-forming foods

The foods at the top of this table are the ones densest in protein and phosphorus, the two nutrients that leave acid behind.14

Acidic drinks

The drink values come from a 2016 test of 379 drinks sold in the U.S., and the one coffee tested, a medium roast, was far milder than any of these, at a pH of 5.11.41

Acidic fruits and other sour foods

Every fruit on this list tastes acidic and turns alkaline-forming once you digest it, so all of them belong on the alkaline side of your plate.3 If one of them sets off heartburn for you, the reflux section below shows how to find out.

On older acidic-food lists, but not acid-forming

If you've seen butter, milk, sugar, refined vegetable oils, French fries or artificial sweeteners on older acidic-food lists, including the earlier version of this page, it helps to know that on the acid-load scale they're close to neutral or even alkaline-forming. Butter comes in at +0.4, whole milk at +0.2, plain whole-milk yogurt at +0.1 and sugar at −0.1, goat milk is slightly alkaline-forming at −0.5, fats and oils score zero, and French fries, made from potatoes, come in at −5.4.32 Artificial sweeteners carry no protein or minerals, so they don't figure in the acid-load equation at all.14

Several of them are still worth cutting back on for other reasons. Sugar is still sugar, with almost none of the nutrients your body needs, and for milk and yogurt, goat and sheep versions make the better choice.3 Artificial sweeteners, dressings and oils sit on my list of foods that harm reflux, along with soda, energy drinks and refined grains, and fried food is one of the triggers my reflux protocol pauses for 30 days.1617

Which acidic foods should you limit?

Soda belongs at the top of that list, because it brings acid with nothing to balance it. Colas, which get their bite from phosphoric acid, measured as low as 2.32 in that 2016 test, among the most acidic drinks tested, and soda carries almost none of the potassium or magnesium your body would use to neutralize it.43 That acid lands on your teeth first, as the section on teeth below explains. If you've switched to the sugar-free kind, read whether diet soda is bad for you to see what changes. Energy drinks and bottled fruit drinks follow close behind, with average pH values of 3.13 and 2.99.4

Processed meats come next, though with them the acid load is the smaller concern: deli turkey salami comes in at +13.6, beef salami at +9.4 and a beef hot dog at only +2.6.3 Keep red meat fresh, unprocessed and grass-fed. The WHO's cancer agency classifies processed meat of every kind, processed beef included, as a Group 1 carcinogen, largely on colorectal cancer data, and rates red meat itself Group 2A, probably carcinogenic.18 As I've said on my show, the studies that link red meat to poor health mostly reflect grain-fed and processed meat, not the fresh, grass-fed red meat I recommend.19

Processed cheese, at +15.6, and refined grain foods round out the list. Cheese pizza comes in at +5.6, pancakes at +3.0 and boxed corn flakes at +1.7, and because they're made from refined flour or milled corn, the whole-grain versions of these foods are the better choice.3 Whole-wheat bread scores a little higher than white bread, at +4.5 against +2.8, because it keeps more of the grain's protein and phosphorus, but it also carries about three times the magnesium and twice the potassium.3

The acid-forming foods worth keeping

Eggs, poultry, wild salmon, sardines, grass-fed beef, aged goat and sheep cheeses and whole grains all score as acid-forming, and they're still foods I want on your plate. The answer to acid-forming foods is balance:

In Chinese medicine, we'd call them yin food and yang food, and they balance each other out and create optimal health in most people.6 Your body handles the acid that animal foods and grains leave behind with the base that vegetables and fruits bring, so the more acid-forming the meal, the more plants it needs alongside it.212

A simple way to do that is to pair each acid-forming food with a plant that leaves more base behind. Have eggs with spinach (−11.8) or a baked potato (−8.3), salmon with kale (−8.0) and a sweet potato (−8.2), aged goat cheese over a big salad, and oatmeal topped with a banana (−6.9) or a few raisins (−12.1).3

Non-acidic foods: the most alkaline-forming foods to eat

These are the foods that do the balancing, ranked by how much base they leave behind per 100 grams, with their pH where it has been measured.31

Leafy greens lead the list, which is one more reason to make them the base of your plate, and root vegetables, avocados and bananas follow close behind. All of them are potassium-rich foods, and potassium is the mineral that does the most to lower a food's acid load in the PRAL equation.143 If you drink coffee, I recommend more fruits and vegetables alongside it, including alkaline foods like celery and watermelon.20

Low-acid fruits

The fruits lowest in acid by pH, and so the gentlest on your teeth and an irritated esophagus, are melons, avocados, ripe mangoes, papaya, watermelon, figs and bananas. Cantaloupe measures 6.13 to 6.58 and honeydew 6.00 to 6.67, close to neutral, while ripe mangoes measure 5.80 to 6.00, papaya 5.20 to 6.00, watermelon 5.18 to 5.60, Calamyrna figs 5.05 to 5.98 and bananas 4.50 to 5.20.1 My reflux protocol names melon and bananas as low-acid fruits that are gentle on the esophagus.17

Acidic vs. alkaline foods: how they work in your body

Your body was designed to keep its blood in a narrow pH band, between about 7.38 and 7.42, and bicarbonate is the main buffer that holds it there.10 Every meal adds a little acid or base to that system. Animal foods and grains leave acid behind, and fruits and vegetables leave base, carried mostly by their potassium, which is why modern diets with fewer plants and more salt and animal foods than our ancestors ate run net acid.213

Your kidneys do the balancing, clearing the net acid into your urine, so the pH of your urine moves with your diet while your blood barely budges. In a small study of 8 healthy volunteers who each tried both diets for 4 days, an acid-forming one and a base-forming one, blood pH differed by only 0.014 between them, while urine pH differed by a full 1.02.12 So food barely moves your blood pH, and a urine test strip shows what your kidneys just sent out.

Holding that line does cost your body something, because in that same 4-day comparison the acid-forming diet sent 74% more calcium out in the urine and raised a marker of bone breakdown by 19%, a sign that your bones help pay for a meal heavy in acid-forming foods.12 Researchers who study this argue that the cost adds up over the decades, because a diet with fewer plants leaves a low-grade acid load that grows as your kidneys slow down with age.13

The whole pH-alkalinity craze drove me crazy 25 years ago, but a guest on my show made a point I think could be true: when your diet runs too acidic, your body may start pulling alkaline minerals like magnesium and calcium out of bone to keep its pH in balance.21 The bone trials below show what happened when researchers added alkaline minerals back.

You can see why your body works so hard at this when the balance fails. When the blood itself turns acidic, as it can with kidney disease, growth hormone loses some of its effect: in a study of 6 healthy men given an acid-producing salt, IGF-1, the messenger growth hormone works through, fell, and in a study of 10 infants and children with classic renal tubular acidosis, a kidney disorder that leaves the blood too acidic, alkali therapy brought their growth back to normal.2223 That's a medical condition rather than the effect of everyday eating, but it shows how much rides on keeping that pH steady.

Here's how the acid-base balance on your plate plays out in your body:

What the alkaline diet gets right is its heart, more vegetables and fruits, and the benefits in the next section come from that shift and from the alkaline minerals plants carry. A 2012 review concluded there may be some value in an alkaline diet for reducing illness and death from chronic disease.26 For the alkaline minerals themselves, I'd rather you go to your plate than to alkaline water. A plant-rich plate lightens the load on the kidneys that keep your pH balance steady.1112

What balancing acidic foods does for you

Eating more vegetables and fruits alongside your acid-forming foods supports your kidneys, bones, muscles and joints, and the benefits below are ranked by the strength of the human research, with a badge grading each one.

Low-acid foods for acid reflux

Of all the reasons to know your acidic foods, reflux is the most immediate. Of the thousands of patients I've treated over the years, reflux was one of the most common complaints and one of the most misunderstood, and most heartburn comes from acid in the wrong place rather than too much of it.17 Certain foods make that more likely: coffee, chocolate, mint, alcohol, fried and fatty food and carbonated drinks can open the valve at the top of your stomach.17 In the throat, acidic foods and drinks may also reactivate pepsin, a digestive enzyme that refluxed fluid leaves behind and that stays active up to a pH of 6.5, which is the reasoning behind the low-acid diets studied below.37

As I wrote in my reflux protocol, "Reflux almost never has one cause. In clinic it's usually three triggers stacked. A big late dinner, a glass of wine and a few extra pounds at the middle is the classic story."17 That story plays out at a lot of holiday tables, with a big meal late in the day, a glass of wine and coffee with dessert, so if the season brings on heartburn, start with timing: my protocol finishes dinner at least three hours before bed.17

Acidic foods sit on the trigger list, but they don't bother everyone:

A low-acid day makes a measurable difference. In a 2026 study that looked back at 208 adults who wore a wireless acid monitor for 96 hours while eating one mostly high-acid day and one mostly low-acid day, 78 had reflux confirmed on testing, and on the low-acid day the share of the day their esophagus spent at a pH under 4 fell from 12.51% to 7.33%, a 41% drop.8 On the low-acid day alone, 24.7% of the people with reflux reached a normal level, and my protocol pairs low-acid eating with meal timing and the position you sleep in.817

For reflux that reaches the throat, a stricter low-acid diet has helped people whom medication hadn't. In a study of 20 adults whose throat reflux persisted on twice-daily acid blockers plus a bedtime acid reducer, with no comparison group, cutting every food and drink below pH 5 for at least 2 weeks improved symptoms in 19 of them, and 3 became symptom-free.37 In a study comparing 184 adults with throat reflux treated in different years, a mostly plant-based, Mediterranean-style diet with alkaline water lowered symptom scores 39.8% on average over 6 weeks, against 27.2% with a proton pump inhibitor, a bigger drop that held up statistically, and a similar share of people improved meaningfully on each, 62.6% on the diet and 54.1% on the drug.38

Chinese medicine looks beneath the burn itself, and in Ancient Remedies, I describe the root cause of reflux in that tradition as weak stomach qi, the stomach's digestive energy, along with liver stagnation, which is why worry, overthinking, emotional stress and frustration make it worse.16 The foods that heal reflux in that tradition include ginger, fennel, aloe vera, honey, cooked vegetables, pumpkin, squash, oatmeal, bone broth, organic chicken, wild-caught fish, rice, oats, apples and pears.16 For a full plan, see the GERD diet.

How to protect your teeth from acidic foods

Your teeth meet the acid in what you drink head-on. They start to erode once the pH in your mouth drops below about 4.0, and below that point each one-unit drop makes enamel about ten times more soluble, so a cola at the bottom of the drinks table is far harder on your teeth than a drink near pH 4.4 Most of the drinks tested fall in that range: in that same 2016 test, 93% had a pH under 4.0, and 39% were extremely erosive, below 3.0.4

Of everything you drink, soda is the one most worth swapping for your teeth's sake, because in a 2012 analysis of 9 studies, soft drinks raised the odds of erosion 2.41 times, while juice, milk and yogurt showed no clear link.9 Reflux wears teeth too, and a 2026 review lists frequent acidic drinks and reflux among the key risk factors for erosion in children and teens, which is one more reason to calm reflux at its root.39

Solomon reached for that same sting when he described a lazy messenger: "As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him" (Proverbs 10:26).40 Enjoy your lemon water and vinegar dressings with a meal, rinse with plain water afterward, and see the best and worst foods for your teeth for more.

How to use this list

These swaps keep the acidic foods you enjoy in balance, and each one is easy to start this week:

• Swap soda for sparkling water with lemon or lime. You keep the fizz and trade the phosphoric acid for citrus that leaves a base behind.3

• Choose a lower-acid coffee. I recommend looking for coffee beans that are lower acid and listening to your body when you drink it.20

• Fill half your plate with vegetables. My High Blood Pressure Protocol builds every plate that way, with greens, beets and other vegetables.5

• Choose clean animal foods. Pick grass-fed beef, pasture-raised eggs and poultry, and wild-caught fish with fins and scales, and pair each with plants.

• Sweeten sparingly, with raw honey first: about a teaspoon to a tablespoon of raw local honey a day, or a little maple syrup, in place of artificial sweeteners. Manuka honey works as an everyday sweetener too.

• Use beans and lentils as an easy plant protein. Cooked lentils come in at +2.1, close to neutral.3

• Choose aged goat and sheep cheeses, a little at a time, over a big salad.

Recipes that balance acidic foods

Each of these recipes pairs a protein or grain with plenty of alkaline-forming plants:

• Salmon Kale Salad: wild-caught salmon over baby kale with green onions and red pepper, topped with a honey-mustard dressing made with goat's milk yogurt or soaked cashews.
• Buddha Bowl with Cashew Sauce: quinoa, lentils, sweet potato, spinach, broccolini, carrot and poached eggs with thinly sliced flank steak, which you can make grass-fed.
• Mango Walnut Spinach Salad: baby spinach, kale, mango, blackberries and toasted walnuts with a mango, lime and apple cider vinegar dressing.
• Omega Blueberry Smoothie: blueberries, coconut milk and sprouted flax, blended with collagen protein.
• Sautéed Pesto Mahi Mahi: wild-caught mahi mahi rubbed with a basil, sage, cilantro and parsley pesto and finished with lemon.
• Overnight Oatmeal: steel-cut oats with dates and cinnamon, ready when you wake up.
• Alkaline Juice: carrot, cucumber, cabbage, kale or spinach, lime and ginger.

Who should be careful with low-acid and alkaline eating?

The bottom line

Acidic foods: frequently asked questions

References

1. Clemson Cooperative Extension, Food Systems and Safety. pH Values of Common Foods and Ingredients (compiled from FDA and published pH estimations). Clemson University.
2. Remer T, Manz F. Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence on urine pH. J Am Diet Assoc. 1995;95(7):791-797. doi:10.1016/S0002-8223(95)00219-7. PMID:7797810
3. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central (SR Legacy): protein, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium per 100 g, run through the PRAL equation in reference 2 (PRAL = 0.49 × protein [g] + 0.037 × phosphorus [mg] − 0.021 × potassium [mg] − 0.026 × magnesium [mg] − 0.013 × calcium [mg]): Cheese, goat, hard type (FDC 172197); Cheese, parmesan, hard (FDC 170848); Cheese, swiss (FDC 171251); Egg, yolk, raw, fresh (FDC 172184); Egg, whole, cooked, hard-boiled (FDC 173424); Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted (FDC 171477); Turkey, whole, meat only, cooked, roasted (FDC 171481); Fish, sardine, Atlantic, canned in oil, drained solids with bone (FDC 175139); Fish, tuna, light, canned in water, without salt, drained solids (FDC 171986); Cheese, pasteurized process, American, without added vitamin D (FDC 171290); Cheese, mozzarella, whole milk (FDC 170845); Cheese, feta (FDC 173420); Cheese, cottage, creamed, large or small curd (FDC 172179); Salami, cooked, turkey (FDC 172937); Salami, cooked, beef (FDC 172935); Frankfurter, beef, unheated (FDC 173862); Beef, ground, 85% lean meat / 15% fat, patty, cooked, broiled (FDC 174032); Cereals, oats, regular and quick, not fortified, dry (FDC 173904); Cereals, oats, cooked with water, without salt (FDC 173905); Fish, salmon, Atlantic, wild, cooked, dry heat (FDC 171998); Peanuts, all types, dry-roasted, without salt (FDC 173806); Nuts, walnuts, english (FDC 170187); Pizza, cheese topping, regular crust, frozen, cooked (FDC 170317); Bread, whole-wheat, commercially prepared (FDC 172688); Bread, white, commercially prepared (FDC 174924); Pasta, cooked, enriched, without added salt (FDC 169737); Pancakes, plain, prepared from recipe (FDC 175009); Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked (FDC 169704); Rice, white, long-grain, regular, enriched, cooked (FDC 168878); Cereals ready-to-eat, corn flakes (FDC 174648); Lentils, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt (FDC 172421); Butter, salted (FDC 173410); Milk, whole, 3.25% milkfat, with added vitamin D (FDC 171265); Yogurt, plain, whole milk (FDC 171284); Milk, goat, fluid, with added vitamin D (FDC 171278); Beverages, carbonated, cola, regular (FDC 174852); Sugars, granulated (FDC 169655); Beverages, coffee, brewed (FDC 171890); Vinegar, cider (FDC 173469); Lemon juice, raw (FDC 167747); Lime juice, raw (FDC 168156); Pineapple, raw, all varieties (FDC 169124); Grapefruit, raw, pink and red (FDC 174673); Strawberries, raw (FDC 167762); Plums, raw (FDC 169949); Grapes, red or green (European type, such as Thompson seedless), raw (FDC 174683); Pomegranates, raw (FDC 169134); Blueberries, raw (FDC 171711); Raspberries, raw (FDC 167755); Oranges, raw, all commercial varieties (FDC 169097); Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average (FDC 170457); Potatoes, french fried, frozen, oven-heated, salt not added (FDC 170118); Beet greens, raw (FDC 170375); Raisins, dark, seedless (FDC 168165); Spinach, raw (FDC 168462); Potatoes, baked, flesh and skin, without salt (FDC 170093); Avocados, raw, all commercial varieties (FDC 171705); Sweet potato, baked in skin, flesh, without salt (FDC 168483); Chard, swiss, raw (FDC 169991); Kale, raw (FDC 168421); Bananas, raw (FDC 173944); Carrots, raw (FDC 170393); Melons, cantaloupe, raw (FDC 169092); Celery, raw (FDC 169988); Broccoli, raw (FDC 170379); Beverages, coconut water, unsweetened (FDC 174831); Cucumber, with peel, raw (FDC 168409); Watermelon, raw (FDC 167765). Accessed November 6, 2026.
4. Reddy A, Norris DF, Momeni SS, Waldo B, Ruby JD. The pH of beverages in the United States. J Am Dent Assoc. 2016;147(4):255-263. doi:10.1016/j.adaj.2015.10.019. PMID:26653863
5. Axe J. The High Blood Pressure Protocol. DrAxe.com; 2026 (The pressure-lowering plate: fill half the plate with potassium- and nitrate-rich color, greens, beets and vegetables; Step 3, build every plate half leafy-green and vegetable color).
6. Axe J. Top 10 Worst Health Trends (That Everyone Thinks Are Healthy). The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (omnivores by design and balancing animal foods with plants, 13:15; yin and yang foods, 13:38). YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDmz6u5Vt7Q&t=795s
7. Goraya N, Munoz-Maldonado Y, Simoni J, Wesson DE. Fruit and Vegetable Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease-Related Metabolic Acidosis Reduces Cardiovascular Risk Better than Sodium Bicarbonate. Am J Nephrol. 2019;49(6):438-448. doi:10.1159/000500042. PMID:30995657
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10. MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. Blood gases (normal arterial blood pH 7.38 to 7.42; bicarbonate 22 to 28 mmol/L). U.S. National Library of Medicine.
11. Axe J. The Alarming Reality About What's Lurking in Your Tap Water. The Dr. Axe Show. 2023 (alkaline minerals from vegetables and fruits, 10:35).
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14. Mangano KM, Walsh SJ, Kenny AM, Insogna KL, Kerstetter JE. Dietary acid load is associated with lower bone mineral density in men with low intake of dietary calcium. J Bone Miner Res. 2014;29(2):500-506. doi:10.1002/jbmr.2053. PMID:23873776 (Methods: the PRAL equation used on this page)
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16. Axe J. Ancient Remedies. Little, Brown Spark; 2021. Prescriptions for 70+ Conditions, acid reflux entry (ancient perspective; foods that harm and foods that heal), p. 213.
17. Axe J. The Acid Reflux & GERD Protocol: The 30-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com; 2026. Letter, p. 3 (heartburn as acid in the wrong place); red flags and Phase 1 meal timing and bed position, p. 5; Chinese medicine, p. 10; top 5 reflux triggers, p. 11 (trigger foods; three causes stacked in clinic); top 10 reflux-friendly foods and the 30-day cut list, p. 22.
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21. Axe J. Health Experts Reveal What's REALLY Making You Sick | Roundtable. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (pH alkalinity and alkaline minerals, 1:51:21).
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29. Penniston KL, Steele TH, Nakada SY. Lemonade therapy increases urinary citrate and urine volumes in patients with recurrent calcium oxalate stone formation. Urology. 2007;70(5):856-860. doi:10.1016/j.urology.2007.06.1115. PMID:17919696
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31. Rebholz CM, Coresh J, Grams ME, Steffen LM, Anderson CA, Appel LJ, et al. Dietary Acid Load and Incident Chronic Kidney Disease: Results from the ARIC Study. Am J Nephrol. 2015;42(6):427-435. doi:10.1159/000443746. PMID:26789417
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43. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Grapefruit Juice and Some Drugs Don't Mix. FDA Consumer Update; content current as of July 1, 2021 (some statins such as simvastatin and some blood pressure drugs such as nifedipine; the juice lets more of the drug enter the blood).
44. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 21 CFR 113.3, Definitions ("low-acid foods": any foods, other than alcoholic beverages, with a finished equilibrium pH greater than 4.6 and a water activity greater than 0.85). Electronic Code of Federal Regulations.

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