20. Acid Load, Mineral Depletion & the Hidden Link to Histamine Intolerance & Oxalates

In this episode of The Histamine Well, we're diving into one of the most overlooked root causes behind symptoms like fatigue, histamine intolerance, hormonal imbalance, oxalate sensitivity, mood swings, and chronic inflammation: acid load and mineral depletion.

You'll learn:

• Where acidity in the body comes from — from diet and inflammation to mitochondrial dysfunction and gut dysbiosis
• How acid load disrupts key systems, including hormones, energy, detoxification, and neurotransmitters
• Why histamine and oxalates are inherently acidic — and how that ramps up symptoms in sensitive individuals
• The role of bicarbonate and minerals in buffering acid and maintaining systemic pH balance
• How to interpret functional blood markers like bicarbonate and the anion gap (and what they actually mean)
• Why simply adding more supplements won’t fix a stressed nervous system or mineral-depleted biochemistry
• Which alkalizing mineral formulas and mitochondrial supports Joanne recommends in clinical practice — including Basica, Orthoplex Alkamin, and ATP Fuel

Whether you're a practitioner, student, or someone deep in their own healing journey, this episode will shift how you view symptoms and recovery — especially if you’ve hit a wall despite ‘doing all the right things.

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Transcript

Joanne Kennedy: 0:02

Practitioners and students. Enrollment is now open for the next cohort of my histamine and methylation online group coaching course. Kicking off on Monday the 18th of August. This is the only program of its kind. Designed to give you both the theory and clinical application you need to confidently treat histamine and methylation issues In clinical practice. We'll cover things like histamine intolerance, the methylation pathways, including the folate pathway, methionine pathway, tetra hydro biopterin pathway, and the all important transsulfuration pathway. As well as SIBO, Hormonal Imbalances, oxalates, M-T-H-F-R, and much more. You'll get detailed webinar content and handouts for you to keep. Plus 8-weeks of live coaching calls with me inside a private practitioner community where we dive deep into real clinical cases and challenges practitioners are facing every day. And just a heads up. If you enroll by the 3rd of August, you can save up to$500. Together we learn so much. To learn more and apply, visit joanne kennedy naturopathy.com. Hi everyone and welcome back to the show. Today's episode is all about acidity in the body. Where it comes from, how it impacts your health, and what you can actually do about it. Whether you are a practitioner, a student, or someone dealing with chronic inflammation, histamine intolerance, oxalate issues, fatigue, hormonal imbalances or mood issues. This episode will help you understand one of the most overlooked drivers of those symptoms, which is acid load and mineral depletion. We'll look at what causes acidity from diet and inflammation to gut dysbiosis and poor mitochondrial function. We'll break down how it affects everything from your bones, hormones, and mitochondria to your mood, histamine sensitivity, and pain levels. We'll also cover how to interpret key blood markers like bicarbonate and the anion gap, and what those results are actually telling you about your body's internal acid-based balance. By the end, you'll understand the deeper picture behind acid-based balance and how restoring it can improve resilience, reduce symptoms, and support long-term healing. So here we go. We need to understand. First of all, that our bodies are naturally designed to generate acid. It's simply a byproduct of metabolism. But like everything in our physiology, the body has built in systems to bring that back into balance. So while acid is produced, we also have mechanisms for neutralizing it with alkalizing processes to maintain homeostasis. There are several, well, many really ways that the body can produce acid simply through diet. Particularly the intake of grains, legumes, nuts, dairy, fish, and meat also comes from inflammation. Alcohol, high intensity exercise, stress, poor mitochondrial function, gut dysbiosis, histamines, and oxalates. So I'm gonna break each of those things down for you. So first of all. Diets high in grains, legumes, nuts, dairy, fish, and red meat is considered acidic. Because when your body breaks these foods down, they produce acidic byproducts. Now this happens mainly due to protein, the phosphorus and sulfur containing compounds in these foods. So even though these foods themselves might not taste acidic, the end result of digesting and metabolizing them is that they create more acidity inside the body. And I can hear you saying, Joe, but you want us to eat all these foods and I, I know. But what you're gonna learn is that we need to make sure we're eating the alkalizing plant foods at the same time. Okay. So we also have chronic inflammation. Which is so common in many long-term health conditions and what I see in clinic all the time with gut issues and with oxalates and mold and SIBO and histamine issues, et cetera. So when tissues are inflamed, immune cells like the neutrophils and the macrophages are activated and they start producing inflammatory chemicals such as cytokines. As well as metabolic byproducts like lactic acid and hydrogen ions. And these byproducts can lower the pH in the local tissue environment, making it more acidic. So basically when something's lower pH, it means that it's more acidic. When it comes to alcohol, it's actually when your body breaks down alcohol, it turns into acetyl outer height and then turns into acetic acid. And both of these compounds are highly acidic. During high intensity exercise, your muscles need energy fast and to keep up your body shifts to a form of energy production that doesn't use oxygen called anaerobic metabolism. And this process produces a acidic byproduct called lactic acid, as well as hydrogen ions. Now I'm just gonna actually stop here and just let you know. Hydrogen ions are acidic, and all of these acidic byproducts actually contain hydrogen ions. Okay, so the hydrogen S are highly acidic, and we need to know about this when I talk about the buffering system. So it's the hydrogen ions that make the environment in your muscles more acidic. Which can lead to that familiar burning sensation during intense exercise. Now, if your mitochondria aren't working properly, due to things like chronic illness, oxalates, mold, nutrient deficiencies, toxins, and inflammation, your body can't make energy as efficiently. When this happens, your cells may switch to less efficient forms of energy production, like anaerobic metabolism. And that produces more acidic byproducts, including lactic acid. When we have dysbiosis, that's an imbalance between good and bad bacteria. It can happen in the small bowel, which is SIBO. In the large bowel, it also happens when there's candida overgrowth. This imbalance, this dysbiotic environment produces a lot of acidic byproducts. Histamine itself is acidic in nature. So chemically it's a biogenic amine that can donate hydrogen ions. Which contribute to local acidity especially at the site of inflammation. Oxalates are also highly acidic. So when they build up in the body, they can increase the amount of acid in tissues. This is how that happens. Oxalates carry negative charges. So to be excreted, they often bind to minerals like calcium, magnesium, or potassium, all of which are alkalizing minerals that help balance the pH. Now, when oxalates bind to and deplete these minerals, the body has fewer resources to neutralize that acid. Oxalates also irritate tissue triggering inflammation. And as we know, that lowers the pH at the local level. So oxalates not only add to the acidic burden directly, they also weaken the body's ability to buffer acidity. So this is part of the reason why they are so problematic. And remember, they also drive up histamine and histamine itself is acidic in nature. So there's some of the things that can cause acidity in the body. I'm sure there are more things, but they're the common things I see in clinic every day. So we need to know how the body actually neutralizes this acid. And I was, I was saying before. All of these acids, no matter where they come from or what they are, they release hydrogen ions. And that's what makes them really acidic in the body. And we need to understand that when it comes to the buffering, which is our first line of defense. The fastest way your body deals with excess acid is through buffering. This happens instantly, right at the site where the acid is produced. And the main buffer in your blood is bicarbonate. It binds to hydrogen iron, so that's the acidic part, and turns them into carbonic acid, which then breaks down into water and carbon dioxide. And the carbon dioxide is then exhaled through the lungs. The water is obviously used for many other things and will be eventually excreted in the urine and also in the feces. What we also need to know is that your body doesn't rely on bicarbonate alone. It also needs alkalizing minerals to support this buffering system. Now, these minerals either bind acids directly or they help support the organs that help remove acidity from the body. And the key ones are magnesium, calcium, potassium, sodium. But keep in mind, when sodium is combined with chloride, like in regular table salt, it actually becomes acid forming as well as citrate and malate, which are found in fruits and vegetables. So if your body doesn't have enough of these minerals, whether from poor diet, chronic stress, or too much acid production, it puts more pressure on your bicarbonate system. And this is when you can see the levels of bicarbonate drop in the blood. So we need to think about diet. As I was saying, grains are inflammatory. We can flick the grains. Like I can't see any reason why we can't flick the grains. But legumes and fish and nuts and red meat are also fundamentally important. But you need to alkalize. they're gonna cause acidity, but we need to ensure we've got the alkalizing minerals to support our buffering system. They come from fruits and vegetables. And I can hear you saying Joe, I can't eat fruits and vegetables because I've got sibo, I've got oxalates, I've got histamine, I've had mold. I can't eat any plant fruits. And I hear you. This is my patient base. I deal with this all the time. So if you can't eat enough fruits and vegetables, you really need to be consuming an alkalizing supplement. Mineral supplement, which I'm gonna talk more about at the end. The other way. Another way I should say, our body alkalizes is through the lungs. They control how much carbon dioxide, which is acidic, you can breathe out. So if acid levels rise, your body starts to breathe faster to blow off more carbon dioxide and bring pH back into range. If you become too alkaline, breathing slows to retain carbon dioxide and rebalance. And this adjustment happens quickly, often within minutes. So interesting. If I eat badly, like something really bad. I will definitely start to feel my breathing get a lot faster, which does make you feel anxious. Now, the long game when it comes to acidity, is handled by the kidneys. They work more slowly over hours today, but they are absolutely essential for maintaining optimal pH. They excrete these acidic hydrogen ions to the urine. And they also reabsorb or make new bicarbonate, which is essential for this buffering system. That's basically how the body maintains acid-based balance. So we need healthy kidney function. We also need to have healthy respiratory system, and we need to have, good amounts of these alkalizing minerals and good amounts of bicarbonate. Now I'm gonna stop here and talk about supplementing with bicarb soda, which is an absolute disaster. Do never do that. All that's gonna do is alkalize your stomach, which is terrible. If you alkalize your stomach, you're not gonna be able to absorb your food. You're gonna end up with sibo. You could end up with things like helicobacter pylori. we need to work on reducing the acid in showing we've got enough minerals to help keep the bicarb levels optimal. Which you're gonna learn about, which we're gonna talk about now. First of all, I'm gonna talk about testing bicarbonate. You can actually test bicarbonate in your blood. You'll see it in a standard blood panel. It's often called under the basic metabolic panel. You'll see in if there is serum bicarbonate. Most lab reports are reference range, somewhere from 22 to 32 micromoles per liter. But from a functional or preventative perspective, we need a tighter, healthier range. Ideally 27 micromoles per liter or above wind fasting. When BI levels fall below that, it can be a sign that your buffering systems are under pressure. You might be producing too much acid or your body might not have enough minerals or resources to keep up with neutralizing that acidity. So 26-27, this is considered optimal. It suggests that your acid based balance is well supported 22-25. This is still within the standard lab range, but from a functional preventative point of view. We can see that your body is becoming more and more acidic when it's below 22. This can actually start to represent metabolic acidosis, which is quite serious. It can be a medical emergency. And it's often seen in chronic illness, poor kidney function, and this con, continual high production of acidity in your body. But when I'm just looking at this. When people are sort of sitting between like 25 down to 22, this is where I'm thinking dysbiosis, sibo, oxalates, histamines, mitochondrial dysfunction, poor diet, et cetera, et cetera. And it's really, really, really common. And it can cause so many symptoms as I'm gonna talk about. So this is why it's such a great test because we can actually see just from this one lab that the body is tending to be more acidic than alkaline. There's another test that we can look at as a marker of acidity, which is the Anion gap, and that's often included in a standard electrolyte panel or basic metabolic panel. So on your labs, you look for a section labeled either electrolytes, chemical panel or basic metabolic panel. And there just should see the anion gap. The anion gap helps identify if there are extra acids in the body that aren't being balanced properly. So your body has a mix of positively charged particles. They're called cations and negatively charged particles, anions. Normally these are in balance, but when your body is making too many acid byproducts, some of those acids leave behind unmeasured anions, and that is what increases the anion gap. If your anine gap is higher than 12, it usually means there are extra acids building up in your system that we need to identify and we need to identify why and start to try and treat those causes. Whether it be SIBO or oxalate or mold, mitochondrial dysfunction, toxic overload, poor diet, et cetera. Now, what is the problem with all of this acidity? So there are many, many problems with all the acidity, which I'm gonna chat about now, but one of the first things that we need to realize is that we can become mineral deplete. As your bicarbonate levels start to drop, as your body is trying to neutralize the acid, your body does rely on this backup system, which is the alkalizing, minerals. Calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium in particular. So they act as buffers. They help mop up hydrogen ions and reduce acidity. But over time, if the acid load stays high and the buffering minerals keep getting used up, you can become mineral deplete. So when the anion gap rises, which usually happens when there's too much acid for your bicarbonate and minerals to buffer, what will happen is minerals will get pulled from storage to try and rebalance your pH. And guess where storage is? It's in your bones. So what we need to realize is bones aren't just calcium storage. They also contain magnesium and phosphate and other minerals that really help maintain a healthy pH. So if you are depleting these minerals over time, your body is gonna start getting them from the bones and what will happen, you'll get weaker bones, low bone density, increased risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis. You are also being more prone to having fractures and injuries. So even if you are getting enough calcium from your diet, your supplements, it might not be enough to offset this ongoing mineral loss if your acid load stays high. Another thing that happens when the body becomes too acidic is that it will start impacting the proper function of the mitochondria, which is where energy is produced. So when the pH drops inside the cell, it's going to interfere with the mitochondrial ability to make ATP. Your body's energy currency efficiently. Acidity also makes it harder for oxygen to be delivered into the cells. Less oxygen in the mitochondria means less energy. And over time, chronic acidity can trigger more inflammation and oxidative stress, which will damage the mitochondria. So you'll have unhealthy mitochondria and you'll stop producing adequate amount of mitochondria. And what's this gonna result in is gonna result in fatigue. Brain fog. And just a general feeling of feeling really, really flat. So if your mitochondria are struggling and you feel constantly tired, it's worth looking at your acid load and mineral status. So not just checking your thyroid levels or your iron levels, you need to understand you should at least look at your bicarb and your anion gap. Acidity plays havoc with your hormones. What doesn't? Your hormonal system is highly sensitive to your body's internal environment and the external environment, but we're talking about the internal environment. So things like pH and inflammation and mineral balance. So when your body is under constant pressure from acidity, it can throw your hormones out of balance in several ways. So firstly, minerals like magnesium, zinc, and potassium are essential for hormone production, signaling and detoxification. So if they're constantly being used up to buffer acid, your hormone system doesn't have the raw materials it needs to function properly. And chronic acidity and inflammation can actually increase your cortisol. And over time, this can lead to adrenal fatigue, irregular menstrual cycles, mood swings, and low resilience to stress. When you are acidic, the body sees it as a threat. And it will prioritize survival over reproduction. So what this means to your sex hormones is that they become imbalanced. Like your oestrogen progesterone can become very, very out of balance. It also impacts your detoxification pathway. So when your acidic, your liver is gonna struggle to clear your hormones properly. Okay? This is gonna lead to things like estrogen dominance. So if any girls working with me with hormone imbalances and PMS and PMDD. This is why I'm giving you the Basica, right?'cause it helps alkalize your system. Which is so, so fundamentally important for hormones. Acidity also affects your mood. Your brain and your nervous system rely on a very delicate balance of pH and minerals to function properly. So when the body becomes too acidic, especially over time, it can impact your mood, your focus, and emotional regulation in several ways.. So firstly, magnesium, calcium, and potassium are key minerals for calming the nervous system. And when they're depleted because your body is using them to buffer all this excess acid, you are more likely to feel anxious wired or emotionally reactive. I can see this in clinic so often, guys. I have people come to me, so anxious and depressed. And they think it's M-T-H-F-R or comp or methylation problems or all this stuff. And they are simply highly acidic. And I give them an alkalizing drink, right? And I know they look at me like this naturopath's not very helpful, but I tell you what, after they come back to me two weeks later, they are so much calmer. So if your anion gap is at like 16, 17, 18. Really like that will definitely be making you feel really wire and really anxious. Acidity can also affect neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and gaba. They regulate mood. They help with motivation, relaxation, and when your pH is off, these chemical messengers may not be made. They might not be released or cleared properly. That can cause massive issues with mood dysregulation. A more acidic environment in the body can reduce oxygen delivery to the brain and slow mitochondrial energy production in the brain. This is gonna lead to mental fatigue, brain fog, low resilience to stress. Chronic low grade acidity is also physically stressful. Even if you're not consciously aware of it your body is in a state of internal tension. And that can contribute to persistent feeling of unease, restlessness, or overwhelm. I always talk to my patients about this. Like your vitals are like your blood pressure and your heart rate and your acid-based balance is a vital and you and your blood sugar. When those things are out, it causes huge stress in the body. And when there's huge stress in the body, what do you get? You get gut issues, you get mood dysregulation. You get hormonal imbalances. so often I see people blood sugar imbalances. They have a high anion gap, low bicarbonate. High blood glucose, high resting heart rate, right? These people, their body sees all of that as a massive threat and will keep their system in fight and flight. So this is where we need to start alkalizing the body. So histamine people or histamine and oxalate people,'cause oxalate people are gonna have histamine issues. And SIBO people. And each and women. How does acidity affect histamine? So, in a few ways. As we know, histamine itself is acidic. When the body is under this acidic stress that I've just spoken about, it tends to be more inflamed overall, and then inflammation itself is going to trigger more acidity and it's gonna trigger more histamine. You're gonna get a really, really vicious cycle of so much histamine being produced. Now the enzymes that break down histamine, the DAO enzyme and the histamine in methyl transferase enzyme rely on a healthy, well resourced environment to work properly. And that means a balanced pH and replete minerals. So this is really, really important. For everyone who is looking at gene reports and saying, I've got COMT. I've got CBS, I've got M-T-H-F-R, I've got DAO SNPs, I've got HNMT SNP's. All these SNPs, right? Those genes provide code for enzymes. If your body is acidic, those enzymes are not functioning probably simply due to that acidity and the mineral depletion. Because minerals like copper, like zinc, like magnesium. They are co-factors for the enzymes. So you need a co-factor for the enzyme to work. Okay? So alkalizing, bringing your bicarb up, replenishing all your minerals is going to help your enzymes work more effectively. So oxalate people, I think I spoke about this a little bit at the beginning, but I'm gonna go through this again. Acidity can make oxalates more harmful. Acidity increases oxalate solubility. Meaning oxalates are more likely to stay in solution and circulate through tissues instead of binding and being safely excreted. In a more acidic environment, oxalates are less likely to bind with calcium in the gut, which is actually how they're best neutralized and excreted. And when this doesn't happen, more oxalates are absorbed into the bloodstream, increasing the body's oxalate burden. Acidity, as we know, depletes key minerals like calcium or magnesium, and these minerals help neutralize and carry oxalates out of the body. Without enough of these minerals, oxalates can crystallize in tissues, which is contributing to that pain, the inflammation, the histamine release, and also the damage to the mitochondria. Furthermore, acidity can also irritate and inflame the gut lining, which makes it easier for oxalates to enter the bloodstream. Okay. They're gonna get into the blood. When they get into the blood, they're gonna end up going through the liver kidney system. So you're gonna get the kidney pain, the bladder pain, the interstitial cystitis vulvodynia. So oxalate people this is why we are always prescribing electrolytes when there is an oxalate problem. Because you are so deplete in them and your body really, really needs them to help deal with the oxalate problem. so what can we do? Obviously like everything, we need to go back and we need to look at all the causes of why you might be more acidic, and we need to address those causes. We need to deal with the mold, the oxalates, the sibo, the candida, the poor diet, the stress, et cetera, et cetera. That's the long game of getting your acid based balance, more acid based balance more balanced. But what can we do in the short term? Increase intake of alkalizing fruits and vegetables if you can, and I understand many of you can't. If you can't, taking alkalizing minerals. I use Basica lot, Orthoplex Alkamin. I also use that, it tastes quite nice, I've just got it myself. But basically a good alkalizing mineral formula should include at a minimum potassium, magnesium, calcium, and sodium. So these core minerals work together to neutralize acid replenish mineral reserves and support this systemic pH balance. You'll also find a lot of these mineral formulas also contain a lot more minerals. Things like zinc, chromium, selenium, molybdenum, vitamin C, some of the B vitamins, as well as malic and citric acid. So you definitely need to take this daily, but don't be surprised if your. Bicarb levels and your anion gap doesn't move quickly, because it can take a long time, like even a few years for it to really shift in the blood. If you are starting to prove it's to see improvements in symptoms, then you Alongside these alkalizing minerals, it's also important to support your mitochondria. Because poor mitochondrial function leads to inefficient energy production, which in itself increases the body's acid load. Now there's a supplement that I love from research nutritionals called ATP Fuel. The mitochondrial membranes. And it's got the nutrients in there that you need to run what's called the Kreb cycle, which makes the ATP. ATP fuels great. if you take that alongside some minerals, it can really, really help. From a supplement point of view, it can really help get your acid-based balance back on track. Ladies, I've actually just learned this myself. Do you know what is a massive cause of that unbelievable fatigue in menopause when your estrogen drops is estrogen supports mitochondrial function. So if you are feeling really, really tired because you're in menopause, taking mitochondrial support such as research nutritionals, ATP Fuel can really, really help rebuild your mitochondria whilst you're also getting your estrogen up. Reduce stress, lower cortisol. This is what I'm telling all my patients. so. I had a patient yesterday, he's done his gene reports. He's seen many doctors who have told him that he needs to take so many supplements for his methylation and his stress and X, y, Z, and he simply needs to do some somatic training and some breath work and deal with his overworking and get his nervous system under control. Without the use of all of these supplements'cause they're not actually working. You know that all I always go on about nervous system work, whether that be with Irene Lyons. Nervous system reset course or working with a somatic practitioner if your stress and cortisol levels are really, really causing issues with your health because as we can now see, it's going to be raising your acid levels, which is gonna have huge knock on effects to your body. If you are concerned, you've got issues with your acid-based balance, I'm here to help. I see patients online, globally, all over the world via Zoom, and you can make a appointment via my website, joanne kennedy naturopathy.com. So thank you for joining me. I hope you found this episode beneficial. Be sure to subscribe to the histamine well so you don't miss an episode. Leave a review and you can also share this episode with someone who could benefit if you have any questions you'd like answered or have a topic you'd like me to discuss, please go to my website, joanne kennedy naturopathy.com, where you can provide us with that information. Until next time, take care and be well.