The Alkaline Body and pH Balance

Posts Tagged ‘Bone Health’

Studies show that flu vaccines are unsafe and ineffective. This presentation by the Thinktwice Global Vaccine Institute includes a visual depiction of flu vaccine production — how the flu vaccine is made and what it contains.

Vitamin D has been shown to help protect against influenza. Studies have shown that Vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol, is more effective in preventing disease and increasing bone health than vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol.

If asked what they consider to be the primary component in maintaining healthy bones, most people would probably suggest calcium, and lots of it. But like one writer puts it, ingesting calcium by itself is like trying to build a brick wall without the mortar; the other vital components to structural integrity are missing from the equation. Current research is suggesting that maintaining the proper pH level in the blood is the primary factor in maintaining overall bone health, with calcium playing a supporting role in achieving this end. Maintaining pH balance in the body has become an important subject of modern health research as it is being concluded that general wellness is predicated upon it. The human body is designed to maintain a pH level of roughly 7.3, or a slightly alkaline state, in order to properly assimilate nutrients and fend off disease. Drawing continually from alkaline-forming compound reserves that are maintained through proper nutrition, the body is able to self regulate as long as it is receiving an alkaline-rich diet. Without it, the body can drop into the acidic range with no recourse, making it susceptible to diseases like osteoporosis and cancer. Dr. Otto Warburg, a medical doctor and one of the leading German biochemists of the twentieth century, won a Nobel Prize in 1931 for discovering that cancer cells are anaerobic, meaning they function without the presence of oxygen. Oxygen actually inhibits the growth of cancer cells and ultimately kills them. Based upon his foundational research, many nutrition-based doctors and scientists have been able to conclude that an alkaline-rich diet is able to keep the blood oxygenated and the cells healthy. What does all of this have to do with calcium and bone loss? Calcium is an isolated mineral that requires other vitamins and minerals in order to properly assimilate and function as intended. Additionally, only in an oxygen-rich alkaline environment is calcium able to build strong and healthy bones. The problem lies in the fact that the typical Western diet is highly acid-forming, rendering calcium intake largely ineffective. Most people identify milk and other types of dairy products as the primary sources for obtaining calcium. Dairy products are acid-forming foods that, apart from adequate intake of alkaline-forming foods, can severely compromise pH balance in the body. In the case of a threatening imbalance, the body begins to draw alkaline-forming compounds from the bones, including calcium, to maintain proper pH. As a result, the body can actually leech more calcium than it is receiving, leading to osteoporosis and other serious diseases. The solution to avoiding pH imbalance and the resulting calcium leeching is to maintain a rich alkaline-forming diet by avoiding excess acid-forming foods. Professor Jurgen Vormanne of the Institute for Prevention and Diet in Ismaning, Germany has developed a helpful food chart that outlines foods and their pH effect on the body. There are also other helpful food charts available online that will assist in understanding acid- and alkaline-forming foods. Some of the best alkaline-forming foods include most fruits and vegetables as well as certain teas, mineral water, and various fermented foods. Among the best alkaline-forming foods are figs, raisins, lemons, limes, carrot and other legume juices, garlic, stevia sweetener, and sea salt, to name just a few. It is important to keep in mind the difference between acidic foods and acid-forming foods; acidic foods such as lemons actually create an alkalizing effect in the body while milk and most dairy products, though not acidic in taste, create an acid-forming effect in the body. Maintaining healthy bones first requires proper nutrient intake in order to maintain a balanced pH level, allowing the blood to effectively assimilate calcium and the necessary nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, and vitamin D which work correspondingly to maintain and fortify the bones. Apart from one another these crucial components will not perform as intended, but together they are a powerhouse of bone-building material and defense against osteoporosis. Sources: Murray, Michael T., Lara Pizzorno. The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. Simon and Schuster, 2005.

Lately, researchers have demonstrated that vitamin K is also involved in building bone. Low levels of circulating vitamin K have been linked with low bone density, and supplementation with vitamin K shows improvements in biochemical measures of bone health. (1) A report from the Nurses’ Health Study suggests that women who get at least 110 micrograms of vitamin K a day are 30 percent less likely to break a hip than women who get less than that. (2) Among the nurses, eating a serving of lettuce or other green, leafy vegetable a day cut the risk of hip fracture in half when compared with eating one serving a week. Data from the Framingham Heart Study also shows an association between high vitamin K intake and reduced risk of hip fracture in men and women and increased bone mineral density in women. (3, 4)

People who do not regularly eat a lettuce salad or green, leafy vegetables are likely to be deficient in their intake of vitamin K; national data suggests that only about one in four Americans meets the goal for vitamin K intake from food.

Vitamin K is most well known for the important role it plays in blood clotting. However, it also activates a specific protein known as osteocalcin.

The protein osteocalcin acts as a kind of glue that helps to incorporate calcium into your bones, and vitamin K is necessary in order to produce this protein.

In addition to being involved in the formation of osteocalcin, vitamin K is involved in the formation of matrix Gla-protein (MGP). MGP is synthesized in a vitamin K-dependent way in smooth muscle cells of the healthy vessel wall.

According to Professor Vermeer, MGP is a hot topic right now because it is the most powerful inhibitor of soft-tissue calcification presently known, and it needs vitamin K to be active in that way.

Vessel walls have only MGP to defend themselves against calcification, which is the hardening of the arteries that leads to atherosclerosis (coronary artery disease) and heart failure.

Further, vitamin K will likely be emerging as a powerful tool to benefit diseases of your cartilage, such as osteoarthritis. Other beneficial effects of vitamin K include:

• Helpful against Alzheimer’s disease
• Topical vitamin K may help to reduce bruising
• Vitamin K deficiency may interfere with insulin release and blood sugar regulation in ways similar to diabetes
• May have antioxidant properties
• Beneficial in the treatment of cancer, including lung, prostate and liver cancers

Vitamin K1 is found in dark green leafy vegetables, and makes up about 90 percent of the vitamin K in a typical Western diet.

US researchers from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, report, that people with the highest level blood levels of Vitamin K have the lowest risk of Arthritis in the hands and knees. Here are their top 10 Vitamin K food sources:

1. Kale

2. Collards

3. Spinach

4. Turnips greens

5. Beets greens

6. Dandelion Greens

7. Mustard Greens

8. Brussels sprouts

9. Broccoli

10. Spring Onions

For several years compelling evidence has shown that most people don’t get enough vitamin K to protect their health through the foods they eat. If you fall into this category, you may want to consider taking a vitamin K2 supplement.

The following conditions may also put you at an increased risk of vitamin K deficiency:

• Eating a poor or restricted diet
• Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease and other conditions that interfere with nutrient absorption
• Liver disease that interferes with vitamin K storage
• Taking drugs such as broad-spectrum antibiotics, cholesterol drugs and aspirin

Further, if you have, or if your family has, a history of osteoporosis or heart d it is advised that you add vitamin K to your diet.

A great convenient source oorganic, whole food vitamin K from vegetables is Essante’s Organic Alkalizing Green Drink with 15 raw, organic ingredients. Just add to water and you are good to go!

What is truly needed to keep the skin looking young, clear, healthy and vibrant? Would it be expensive moisturizers and creams, pH balanced skin care products, natural products, soap free cleansers, and skin exfoliants? We all have a daily regimen of taking care of our skin.

In an attempt to inject some balance into the current push for "cap-and-trade" plans that would hit anyone who uses energy with massive new taxes and limits, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, has asked Congress to consider the opinion of 31,478 scientists, including more than 9,000 Ph.D.s, who agree humans have nothing to do with any "global warming."