The Alkaline Body and pH Balance

Posts Tagged ‘Acids’

Alkaline water helps to neutralize stored acids and toxins. ... Alkaline water containing ionic minerals also acts as a conductor of electrochemical activity from cell to cell. ...

pH balance and it’s effect on weight loss is a well know mechanism. As  is well known, America has become one of the heaviest countries in the world, as Americans continue to have more and more health challenges. At present 2/3 rds of all Americans are overweight. pH balance can play a major factor in the body becoming more and more overweight.

Our bodies are constantly self-regulating to maintain balance. In the same way that our bodies maintain a body temperature of 98.6, they also strive to maintain pH balance. The pH of the blood needs to be maintained at 7.365, slightly alkaline. A major challenge to our bodies is the SAD diet or standard American diet which is 90% or more consisting of acidic foods. A condition called metabolic acidosis begins to occur.

When our bodies start developing metabloic acidosis it is a threat to it’s well being. So our bodies go into preservation or protection mode. One of it’s actions is to deposit the toxic acids into fat tissue becasue fat neutralizes acids. In this way the dangerous acids become isolated from the rest of the body and the major organs such as our heart, kidneys; liver and lungs are protected. The more the acid we are accumulating the more fat your body will need to maintain.

So are you overweight or are you over acidic? My own personal experience was that I lost 35 lbs. in 8 weeks simply by transitioning to an alkaline lifestyle. My wife also lost 35 lbs. in 8 weeks.  To learn more you can read “The pH Miracle For Weight Loss” by Dr. Robert Young. You can read my wife’s personal testimony and see her photos on page 109.

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pH and osteoporosis are intimately linked together.

Osteoporosis affects an estimated 75 million people in Europe, USA and Japan

• Osteoporosis causes over 1.5 million fractures each year in the USA (National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2004)
• Osteoporosis causes over 300,000 hip fractures each year in the USA (National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2004)
• Osteoporosis causes over 700,000 vertebral fractures each year in the USA (National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2004)
• Osteoporosis causes over 250,000 wrist fractures each year in the USA (National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2004)
• Osteoporosis accounts for 70% of all fractures for people over 45 in the US (NIH Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases – National Resource Center)

The body’s pH levels play an important fundamental role in the development of osteoporosis. The blood had an alkaline pH of 7.365. AS the body becomes more acidic it will take measures to keep the blood alkaline. One of these measures is it will begin pulling alkaline minerals from the bones, tissues, joints and organs and dumping them into the blood to keep the blood alkaline. in the meantime the bones become weaker and weaker eventually leading to the condition called osteoporosis.

As a part of normal metabolism, the body produces acids. When the body has an excess of acid it can’t get rid of at the moment (due to acid excess or a lack of alkaline reserve minerals), the acid can get stored. Where does it get stored? Mostly in the interstitial spaces, also called the extracellular matrix – this is the space around the cells. It also gets stored in fat tissue and will cause a person to gain weight, particularly around the mid section.

As way of illustration, it can be said that when the body stores this acid in the extracellular matrix, it believes that one day, the acid is going to be removed. Therefore, in order to be in balance, it knows that for every molecule of acid that gets stored in the tissues and fat, an equal molecule of bicarbonate or base substance needs to be put into the blood because one day it will need to escort the acid out of the body.

This is the body’s amazing compensatory mechanism at work. What we see here is the pH interplay between the blood and the tissues. If the body has an acid overload, it stores the acid in the tissues (the tissue pH decreases) and the blood compensates and becomes alkaline (the blood pH increases).

As the body degenerates further into ill health, the blood pH often will turn from it’s overly alkaline condition and then start to move down. When that happens, the body is losing it’s compensatory mechanisms. If the proper intensive intervention is not engaged, physical death will often ensue.

As more acid accumulates in our body, it gets stored and pushed further, and ultimately it can get pushed into the cell. When it gets pushed into the cell, the first thing it does is displace POTASSIUM and then MAGNESIUM and then SODIUM.

Those are three critical minerals in our body. The potassium and magnesium will leave the body. As potassium leaves it needs phosphate in the process and the body will get that from bone, the result is calcium is released and ends up as free calcium in the system. (As a preservation mechanism the sodium will be retained through the operation of the kidney). This calcium leaving the bone as phosphate is released to bind with potassium is something you don’t want and it is a big part of what’s behind osteoporosis, arthritic pain, etc. It has just recently been brought to light by scientists that high serum calcium levels can be an indicator of a propensity to get prostrate cancer. It is brought about by the body compensating for an ever increasing tissue acidosis and potassium loss somewhere in the body.

What you might not want to do in this case is take more calcium supplements that won’t be utilized down at the cellular level. With that said, you can now understand why most generic calcium products, antacids, etc. are one of the most over-prescribed supplements. In these situations what the body really needs is more of the right alkalizing minerals to put potassium back in its place, more magnesium, and possibly zinc – like zinc picolinate – which lends help to the whole digestion process for making adequate levels of HCL in the gut so minerals can be broken down to begin with when you eat.

With a good understanding of the pH interplay in the body, natural answers can be derived for good health, including good bone health. Taking high quality organic alkalizing mineral supplements on a daily basis can provide a great degree of protection against the ravages of acid in our bodies.

Herman Aihara, in his book entitled “Acid & Alkaline”, states that: If the condition of our extra cellular fluids, especially the blood, becomes acidic, our physical condition will first manifest tiredness, proneness to catching colds, etc. When these fluids become more acidic, our condition then manifests pains and suffering such as headaches, chest pains, stomach aches, etc. According to Keiichi Morishita in his Hidden Truth of Cancer, iif the Blood develops a more acidic condition, then our body inevitably deposits these excess acidic substances in some area of the body such so that the blood will not be able to maintain an alkaline condition which causes these areas such as the cells to become acidic and lowers in oxygen.

As this tendency continues, such areas increase in acidity and some cells die; then these dead cells themselves turn into acids. However, some other 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 DNS memory code. Therefore, malignant cells grow indefinitely and without order. This is cancer.

Help your body maintain it’s natural alkaline state (blood pH of 7.365) by drinking our 100% organic Earth Greens.

To understand why some tissues in the body are deficient in oxygen and therefore prone to cancer, it is helpful to understand the nature of acidity and alkalinity. Cancerous tissues are acidic, whereas healthy tissues are alkaline. Water (H2O) decomposes into H+ and OH-. When a solution contains more H+ than OH- then it is said to be acid. When it contains more OH- than H+ then it is said to be alkaline.

When oxygen enters an acid solution it can combine with H+ ions to form water. Oxygen helps to neutralize the acid, while at the same time the acid prevents oxygen from reaching the tissues that need it. Acidic tissues are devoid of free oxygen.

An alkaline solution is just the reverse. Two hydroxyl ions (OH-) can combine to produce one water molecule and one oxygen atom. In other words, an alkaline solution can provide oxygen to the tissues.

The pH scale goes from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. Below 7 is acid and above 7 is alkaline. The blood, lymph and cerebral spinal fluid in the human body are designed to be slightly alkaline at a pH of 7.4.

At a pH slightly above 7.4 cancer cells become dormant and at pH 8.5 cancer cells will die while healthy cells will live (Barefoot, pages 66-67). This has given rise to a variety of treatments based on increasing the alkalinity of the tissues such as vegetarian diet, the drinking of fresh fruit and vegetable juices, and dietary supplementation with alkaline minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, cesium and rubidium.

In Holland the vegetarian diet promoted by Dr. Moerman has been recognized by the government as a legitimate treatment for cancer. Results indicate that Dr. Moerman’s diet is more effective than standard cancer treatments (Jochems, 1990).

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.