Could anyone who speaks Vietnamese verify the following passage for me? What does it mean?

Question

"A Vietnamese speaker of English might describe food as being 'hot,' which refers to its health effects on the body, not its temperature or spiciness."

Answer 1

I think Vietnamese speakers mean to say that certain foods are either alkaline (mát = cool) or acidic (nóng = hot). The health benefits depend on the acidity or alkalinity of the food, or rather, the food's effect on the acidity or alkalinity of our bodies. Veggies, for example, are considered mát, while sugar is considered nóng. In general, our bodies prefer a slightly alkaline environment (with a pH level very slightly higher than 7.0).

Edit: Well, I think in terms of chemistry, Vietnamese speakers have imported the words "acid" and "base" directly from English (or French, more likely). If you ask a really old Vietnamese person, he would probably explain the health benefits of food/diet to you in terms of yin and yang. He would probably say a food that is mát "cools your body down," that is, it balances your yang or something like that. This is one of those cultural ideas that is difficult to explain in Western terms, and I'm not so sure there is concrete support for it. I've taken a more scientific approach which I hope isn't too far from how the ideas were originally understood long ago. I hope this helps anyway.