The Alkaline Body and pH Balance

Archive for December, 2008

The most popular acclaimed paperback Overcoming Cancer, The Natural Medicine Diet Therapy treatment from Keiichi Morishita, Phd, MD Japan.

In essence, the majority of the foods and drinks we consume are acidic, such as meat, grains and sugar, with colas and other soft drinks being highly acidic. So unless you have been eating a very healthy diet, full of fresh fruit and vegetables, your body is way too acidic, creating a very good environment for cancer to grow in.

Actually, too much acidity is an underlying factor in many degenerative diseases — diabetes, arthritis, fibromyalgia and more. A basic maxim of natural physicians is: Balance the bio terrain. Do this first, then everything can come back to normal.

Taking medicines or supplements while your body is highly acidic is a bit like washing dishes in a sink of dirty water, even when you put in plenty of soap, you can’t get the dishes clean. Dr. Keiichi Morishita in his book, Hidden Truth of Cancer, when your blood starts to become acidic, your body deposits acidic substances in the blood (usually toxins) into cells to allow the blood to remain slightly alkaline. However, this causes your cells to become more acidic and toxic, which results in a decrease of their oxygen levels, and harms their DNA and respiratory enzymes. Over time, these cells increase in acidity and some die. These dead cells themselves turn into acids.

However, some of these acidified cells may adapt in that environment. In other words, instead of dying - as normal cells do in an acid environment - some cells survive by becoming abnormal cells. These abnormal cells are called malignant cells. Malignant cells do not correspond with brain function nor with our own DNA memory code. Therefore, malignant cells grow indefinitely and without order. This is cancer.

Alkaline water (including the water in cells) holds a lot of oxygen. Acidic water holds very little oxygen. So the more acidic your cells are, the less oxygenated they will be. To make matters worse, the fermentation process cancer cells use to produce energy creates lactic acid, further increasing acidity and reducing oxygen levels. This book will have your attention from start to finish with insights to cancer.

Learn about alkalizing products like our 100 % organic greens and Supreme pH Drops to alkalize and oxygenate your blood.

Acidosis Peer Review Articles

Over acidity has been studied by many scientists as you will see here. You can help prevent the negative side effects by eating plenty of green foods and drinking green alkalizing drinks like Essante’s 100% organic Earth Greens and Supreme pH.

1. Adrogue, H. and Madias, N. Management of life-threatening acid-base disorders, New
England Journal of Medicine 338: 26-34, 1998.

Acid-base homeostasis exerts a major influence on protein function, thereby critically affecting tissue and organ performance. Deviations in body acidity can have adverse consequences and when severe, can be life-threatening.

2. Alpern, R. Trade-offs in the adaptation to acidosis, Kidney International 47: 1205-1215,
1995.

Excessive dietary intake of protein with consequent increase in metabolic acid production result in compensatory mechanisms that lead to progression of kidney stones, bone disease, renal disease and a catabolic state.

3. Alpern, R. and Sakhaee, K. The clinical spectrum of chronic metabolic acidosis:
homeostatic mechanisms produce significant morbidity, American Journal of Kidney Disease 29: 291-302, 1997.

Chronic metabolic acidosis is a process whereby an excess acid load is placed on the body due to excess acid generation or diminished acid removal by normal homeostatic mechanisms. Excessive meat ingestion and aging are two clinical conditions often associated with chronic metabolic acidosis. The body’s homeostatic response to this pathology is very efficient. Therefore, the blood pH is frequently maintained within the “normal” range. However, these homeostatic responses engender pathologic consequences such as nephrolithiasis, bone demineralization, muscle protein breakdown and renal growth.

4. Bushinsky, D. Acid-base imbalance and the skeleton, European Journal of Nutrition 40: 238-244, 2001.

Humans generally consume a diet that generates metabolic acids leading to a reduction in the
systemic bicarbonate and a fall of pH. Chronic metabolic acidosis alters bone cell function; there is an increase in osteoclastic bone resorption and a decrease in osteoblastic bone formation. As we age, we are less able to excrete metabolic acids due to the normal decline in renal function.

5. Frassetto, L.; Morris, R.; Sellmeyer, D.; Todd, K. and Sebastian, A. Diet, evolution and
aging: the pathophysiologic effects of the post-agricultural inversion of the potassium-to-sodium and base-to-chloride ratios in the human diet, European Journal of Nutrition 40:5 200-213, 2001.

Dietary changes over the last two centuries have resulted in a mismatch between genetically determined nutritional requirements in humans. Excess sodium chloride, a deficiency of
potassium and excess dietary acids that are not mediated by dietary bicarbonates lead to chronic low-grade metabolic acidosis that amplifies the age-related pathophysiological consequences in humans (such as loss of bone substance, increase in urinary calcium, disturbance in nitrogen metabolism, and low levels of growth hormone).

6. Frassetto, L.; Morris, R. and Sebastian, A. Effect of age on blood acid-base composition in adult humans: role of age-related renal functional decline, American Journal of Physiology, 271: 1114-22, 1996.

Otherwise healthy adults manifest a low-grade, diet-dependent metabolic acidosis, the severity of which increases with age at constant rate described by an index of endogenous acid production, apparently due in part, to the normal age-related decline of renal function.

7. Frassetto, L. and Sebastian, A. Age and systemic acid-base equilibrium: analysis of
published data, Journal of Gerontology, Advanced Biological Science and Medical Science, 51: B91-99, 1996.

Authors examined peer-reviewed literature to determine whether systemic acid-base equilibrium changes with aging in normal adults humans. Using linear regression analysis, they found that with increasing age, there is a significant increase in the steady-state blood H+ indicating a progressively worsening low-level metabolic acidosis in what may reflect, in part, the normal decline of renal function with increasing age.

8. Krapt, R. and Jehle, A. Renal function and renal disease in the elderly, Schweizerische
Medizinische Wochenschrift, 130:11 398-408 2000.

Age-induced decline in renal functions explains, at least in part, clinically important age-related conditions including metabolic acidosis.

9. Lonergan, E. Aging and the kidney: adjusting treatment to physiologic change, Geriatrics
43: 27-30, 32-33, 1988.

Changes in renal physiology and function with aging put the elderly patient at risk for adverse effect of drug therapies due to the incidence of common problems like metabolic acidosis.

10. Maurer, M.; Riesen, W.; Muser, J.; Hulter, H. and Krapf, R. Neutralization of Western
diet inhibits bone resportion independently of K intake and reduces cortisol secretion in humans, American Journal of Physiology and Renal Physiology 284: F32-40, 2003.

The acid load inherent in the Western diet results in mild chronic metabolic acidosis in association with a state of cortisol excess. An alkali balanced diet modulates bone resorption and the associated alterations in calcium and phosphate homeostasis.

11. May, R.; Kelly, R. and Mitch, W. Metabolic acidosis stimulates protein degradation in rat muscle by glucocorticoid-dependent mechanism, Journal of Clinical Investigations 77:614-621, 1986.

Chronic metabolic acidosis increases net muscle protein degradation in rat muscle tissue.

12. Meghji, S.; Morrison, M.; Henderson, B. and Arnett, T. pH dependence of bone resoption: mouse calvarial osteoclasts are activated by acidosis, American Journal of Physiological and Endocrinological Metabolism 280: E112-E119, 2001.

Osteoclast activity is modulated by small pH changes and is a key determinant of bone resorption in mouse calvarial cultures.

13. Nabata, T.; Morimoto, S. and Ogihara, T. Abnormalities in acid-base balance in the
elderly, Nippon Rinsho 50: 2249-53, 1992.

Decline in the ability to adjust acid-base balance is a feature of aging. Regulation of pH ultimately depends on the kidneys and lungs, however, the ability of these organs is decreased with physiological aging. Renal insufficiency and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and various drugs, such as diuretics, often affect the acid-base balance in the elderly.

14. Robergs, R. Exercise-induced metabolic acidosis: where do the protons come from?, Sport Science 5(2) sportsci.org/jour/0102/rar.thm, 2001.

The physiology of intense exercise that produces acidosis is far more complex than originally
thought. In the transition to higher exercise intensity, proton release is even greater than lactate production which indicates acidosis is only partially related to production of “lactic acid.”

15. Sebastian, A.; Harris, S.; Ottaway, J.; Todd, K. and Morris, R. Improved mineral balance and skeletal metabolism in postmenopausal women treated with potassium bicarbonate, New England Journal of Medicine 330:25 1776-81 1994.

Endogenous acid produced by the metabolism of foods in ordinary diets abundant in proteins may contribute to the decrease in bone mass that occurs normally with aging. The oral administration of potassium bicarbonate at a dose sufficient to neutralize endogenous acid improves calcium and phosphorus balance, reduces bone resorption and creases the rate of bone formation.

16. Sebastian, A.; Frassetto, L.; Sellmeyer, D.; Merriam, R. and Morris, R. Estimation of the net acid load of the diet of ancestral preagricultural Homo sapiens and their hominid ancestors, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 76:6 1308-1316, 2002.

Estimates of the net systemic load of acid in ancestral pre-agricultural diets as compared to
contemporary diets reflect a mismatch between the nutrient compositions of the diet and
genetically determined nutritional requirements. The result is that contemporary diets generate diet-induced metabolic acidosis in contemporary Homo sapiens.

17. Wiederkebr, M. and Krapf, R. Metabolic and endocrine effects of metabolic acidosis in
humans, Swiss Medical Weekly 2001:131, 127-132, 2001.

Experimental evidence supports the notion that even mild degrees of acidosis, such as that
occurring by ingestion of a high animal protein diet, induce multiple metabolic and endocrine alterations. Acidosis induced alterations in endocrine systems include growth hormone insensitivity, primary hypothyroidism and hyperglucocorticoidism. Metabolic acidosis depresses protein metabolism and induces nitrogen wasting, nephrolithiasis, age-related loss of lean bodymass, osteoporosis and a propensity to develop kidney stones.

Learn more about living an alkaline life at http://www.phsecret.com

Psoriasis and pH

You may not have though about pH since high school chemistry class. If you suffer from psoriasis or other inflammatory conditions, it may be critical to reeducate yourself with the knowledge. Numerous researchers have made a connection between pH and conditions like psoriasis, eczema and acne. Excess acids are known to irritate the tissues and deplete them of alkaline buffers. In fact, some believe that excess acidity in the body is  so detrimental to our systems that they are at the root of all disease.

What is pH?

The abbreviation “pH” simply refers to the measurement of hydrogen ions. Substances with a pH of less than 7.0 are considered acidic, and those with a pH of greater than 7.0 are “basic,” or alkaline. Humans need to maintain a pH ~ 7.365 in order to thrive. If your body has the alkaline reserves that it needs, a saliva pH test showing a pH reading of 7.0 to 7.50 will be measured. A lower saliva pH reading indicates that alkaline reserves are being used to buffer acids elsewhere in the body. Normal acid excretion through the renal system (kidneys) gives urine a pH that falls between 6.75 to 7.25. Urine pH helps to determine whether your body is eliminating a normal quantity of acids. Since pH test strips are not widely available at drug stores anymore, Essante Worldwide now sells pHHydrion Urine and Saliva test strips(100 strips for $7.00).

The pH balance of our system depends largely on the food we eat. The usual culprits - sugar, coffee, highly processed foods, some meats, and excessively fatty foods - raise acid levels (lowering pH). When foods are digested they leave an “ash”; this residue determines whether a food is considered acidic or alkaline. Additionally, stress, lifestyle, and lack of exercise can cause acid levels to rise even moreso then diet. As with many situations, a downward spiral of ill health begins with the person experiencing less energy and entering a cycle of imbalance. It can go on for years.

In her book Digestive Wellness, Elizabeth Lipski, PhD,CCN explains how consuming even one can of soda can drastically affect pH:

One can of cola contains enough phosphoric acid to significantly change our pH. The kidneys cannot excrete urine that is more acidic than about 5.0 without damaging them or the bladder. The pH of cola is between 2.8 and 3.2, about a hundred times more acidic than a pH of 5.0. To dilute this to an appropriate level, you’d need thirty-three liters of urine. So, the body has another mechanism - using buffering minerals from elsewhere in the body. If there are enough reserves, the body will pull sodium and potassium to do this. If not, it will pull calcium, magnesium and other minerals from the bones. One can imagine the effects of drinking several cans of cola or one Big-Gulp daily.

Consider a typical fast food meal, with a large soda, fries and cheeseburger, combined with the often high levels of stress experienced on a daily basis, and it’s easy to see how quickly imbalance can occur.

How may pH affect psoriasis?

As with many other conditions, pH imbalance can have multifold negative impacts on psoriasis. The filter organs work harder to balance the system, stored minerals are used up and toxins are filtered though the skin to compensate for the workload placed on other organs. Oftentimes people with a pH imbalance suffer from joint pain and arthritis as well as skin problems.

Increased acidity in the body may create an environment that aggravates psoriasis. When the system becomes too acidic, organs such as the kidneys, live and lungs work overtime to return the system to more alkaline levels. In order to achieve this, sodium, potassium and often calcium are utilized, depleting our alkaline buffers. These minerals are often leached from the bones, and unless foods or supplements such  Innerlight’s Organic SuperGreens and Prime pH drops which contain these minerals are consumed, mineral stores may remain low or depleted, which over time can lead to even worse health problems, including osteoporosis or other degenerative conditions.

Alternatively the body may create excess fat to buffer the acids. The body will then store the acids in the fat tissue in order to protect the more vital internal organs. The person will then be carrying excess weight and even create obesity. In essence the person is not overweight but overacidic and may loose weight naturally through balancing the pH levels of the body.

Increased toxicity from overtaxed organs can greatly impact inflammatory conditions like psoriasis. Just to quickly review, when organs like the kidneys and liver cannot effectively filter toxins from the blood, other organs like the skin and lungs take over the job of filtration. When this occurs, toxins, which usually are excreted through the urine, end up on the surface of the skin and exacerbate existing conditions like acne, psoriasis, and eczema.

Just as acid rain can destroy a forest, metabolic acidosis can rain havo on our internal environment and create a downward spiral of symptomologies which may degrade our quality of life and lead to ever greater challenges as the bodies alkaline reserves eventually become exhausted.