Are fruits in general, and melons in particular, a problem because of their acidity?

No, for most people fruits are not a problem when it comes to their acid content. There are two ways of thinking about this question of fruit and acidity. As a group, fruits are relatively acidic, and some fruits are highly acidic. pH is a special scale created to measure how acidic any substance is, and the lower you get on the pH scale, the more acid a substance contains. At the very low end of the scale (in the pH range of 2.0), you'll find the lemons and limes-the most acidic of the World's Healthiest fruits. At the opposite end of the scale (near a pH of 14), you won't find any fruits whatsoever! However, cantaloupes and many melons will fall closer to the center of the range, with a pH of 6.0-6.6 (cantaloupes), or honeydew melons (6.0-6.7). Other commonly eaten fruits aren't as acidic as lemons or limes, but still fall in the lower part of the pH range. For example, fruits like pears have a pH of 3.5-4.6 and strawberries 3.0-3.9. When we are healthy, our stomach and digestive tract is designed to deal very comfortably with fruits, even though they have relatively low pH values. A second way of looking at fruits and acidity is to ask whether fruits are acid-forming. Fruits also do quite well in this regard! A new term has been created in the research

world to refer to the potential impact of certain foods on the kidneys and uric acid levels. This term is "potential renal acid load" or PRAL. Foods like meats and cheeses and fish have high PRAL values (in the range of about 8-10). Fruits are amongst the lowest of all food groups in terms of PRAL values and have an average value in the negative range of -3.1. For a comprehensive list of foods and their pH value, please visit the website hosted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/lacf-phs.html.