acid and alkali

[eve]

I've been reading an article on the consequences of an acidic diet. There was mention of a Norwegian study (but no references) that mentioned research of 100,000 death certificates comparing cause of death and region. The conclusion was that people living in areas with alkaline water had a 22 percent better chance of avoiding heart disease.

Dr Gerry Brady, cancer researcher and GP in Brisbane, also came to a conclusion about the importance of an alkaline diet. He examined his own patients' records and found that those who lived on the south side of Brisbane where the water was more alkaline, had fewer heart troubles, compared to those living on the north side of Brisbane where the water was more acidic.

The article goes on to list plenty of other diseases that are affected by an acidic diet, and states that one can alkalise by drinking plenty of water, include green foods, barleygrass, wheatgrass, vegies, etc.

[tim]

if there anything that can simply be added to the water to make it more alkaline?

tim

[ConsciousCuisine]

Coral Calcium alkalizes water.

[chakra]

If you base your food fare on whole grains like brown rice and legumes, you should be quite alkaline.

[Kiva Dancer]

Not really. Brown rice is acidic and so are legumes.

Here's a chart showing which is which.

I almost did the diet once but I couldn't stand the thought of cutting out my favourite foods (legumes, grains, nuts).

[ConsciousCuisine]

Not really. Brown rice is acidic and so are legumes.

Here's a chart showing which is which.

I almost did the diet once but I couldn't stand the thought of cutting out my favourite foods (legumes, grains, nuts).

Yes, you are right.

[kelra]

I use Supergreen with distilled water and PH drops to Alkaline my body.
It works pretty good. Go to http://www.innerlightinc.com/inrji.

[kelra]

If you want more energy and to improve your health a more Alkaline diet might be the way to go. Today most people have an over-acidification of the body which leaves them tired and feeling older. Even vegans may feel this way.

If your interested please go to:
http://www.innerlightinc.com/inrji/shop.cfm to learn more.

[Pob]

I'd take the Wolfe Clinic link with a pinch of salt as some of the things it lists under Acidifying are clearly b*llocks. eg - it lists 'chemicals' - which covers everything on both lists I'd be surprised if there was something unique about apple cider vinegar over other vinegars as well.

[adam antichrist]

Yeah and they include citrus fruits (orange, lemon) on the alkaline list which are of course the only natural source of... citric acid!!! Acids and alkaloids neutralise each other so unless citrus fruits have managed to compartmentalise themselves in a manner so that they have acid and base kept separate, this is not true.

[Pob]

I wasn't sure about the citrus fruits - I know that Lemon juice is acidic, but it is supposed to be good for calming acid indigestion.

[adam antichrist]

I wasn't sure about the citrus fruits - I know that Lemon juice is acidic, but it is supposed to be good for calming acid indigestion.

It's possible that there could be a coumpound in lemon/citrus that when breaking down in the stomach forms a base strong enough to neutralise the hydrochloric acid in the stomach (I'm no expert-yet!)

[kelra]

Lemon is acidic but the digestion alters it to an alkaline state. It is the reason lemon is used instead of vinegar in a alkaline diet.

There are a few other foods where this occurs but I cant remember them at the moment.

Kelra

[eve]

You're right kera, in fact the body is perfectly capable of maintaining whatever ph level is needed without anyone specially eating acidic or alkaline foods for that purpose.

[DianeVegan]

The human body maintains a fairly narrow range of pH between 7.35 and 7.45 (blood). If it becomes acidic you will breathe deeper and faster, just the opposite if it becomes alkalinic. This is a short term defense. If the acidic condition persists then the kidneys will do some amazing things to return the body to a normal pH. One of the things it does is pull calcium from the blood (and also bone) to normalize the pH - and this is why we see so many young men with kidney stones who have been on high protien (acidic) diets!!

[adam antichrist]

I remember now.
Every acid has whats called a conjugate base, that is a pH increasing molecule in it's makeup. Piss weak acids like citric acid have a stronger conjugate base.

Citric acid C2H8O7 forms the base C6H7O7- (dihydrogen citrate ion), however the loss of the H+ from the citric acid molecule lowers pH (making the solution more acidic) therefore there must be another chemical in the process. If there are oxygen ions floating around in the fruit, together with a pair of H+ they will form water and indeed lower pH but I don't know if this is whats actually happening.

Water being formed in the stomach? Never heard of that before.

Incidentally it's this exact process, when present with hydrogen carbonate; that makes you burp when you take an antacid

[kelra]

if there anything that can simply be added to the water to make it more alkaline?

tim

My mother suggested adding Hydrogen Peroxide to distilled water. However, I dont know the ratio water to Hydrogen Peroxide she used.
She has since switched to Supergreens and Prime PH from Innerlight. She is currently in Iraq and hasnt returned my email yet.

I am using the products from Innerlight also. However, I just found out that they are owned by a pharmacutical company Quigley Corporation. Unfortunately, that company does animal testing.

The Innerlight products were all developed by a Dr. Young who sold the products to that company. I have not been able to find out if Dr. Young did animal testing for his products or not.


Kelra

[Marie]

How do you find out if your to alkalinic beside what you mentioned Dianecrna? Is there a way to measure this? I went to this "lady" who told me I was to alkalinic and should stop eating fruit and berries for a while.???? (Really difficult this time of the year)

[kelra]

I just had an email from the Quigley Corp., they stated that no animal testing was used for the Innerlight products. So would you be a distributor or but this product? I am a distributor and was considering quitting - however, if we buy products not made from animal testing to promote ethical actions isn't that a good thing - even if other subsidaries of the company do animal testing?

[DianeVegan]

Marie, there is something called an arterial blood gas that we take in the hospital which would tell you this (but not needed for this purpose). There are also blood tests which could be taken from your vein. However, your body adapts and therefore will almost always present a normal pH unless you have kidney failure, are a long time smoker, have some serious illness, etc.

The whole debate of acid/alkali diets has not really gone mainstream in the medical or nutritional world where I live, so whatever basis someone is using to tell you that you are too alkalinic is unknown to me. Also, stay away from anyone who tells you to avoid entire food groups (in my opinion) unless you are truly eating an enormous amount of that particular food.

I hope that helped. I am not a nutritionist and don't really know much about this dietary topic.

[Marie]

Thanks Dianecrna.

[eve]

Dianecrna, when you state "However, your body adapts and therefore will almost always present a normal pH unless you have kidney failure, are a long time smoker, have some serious illness, etc" that is exactly what my post (#13) intended when I wrote "the body is perfectly capable of maintaining whatever ph level is needed without anyone specially eating acidic or alkaline foods for that purpose".

I realise that you are perfectly familiar with what goes on in the body, but there are many people who get scared with the acid/alkaline issue, quite unnecessarily.

[Marie]

What about arthritis ? Do you have any idea if that affects the body´s capability to to maintain a normal ph level Eve.

[DianeVegan]

Arthritis does not affect the body's ability to maintain a normal pH.

This whole topic has had me thinking. Every time you exercise or exert yourself physically, your muscles release lactic acid which needs to be cleared. One of the things you do is breathe faster and deeper (to rid your body of CO2 (acid) and to increase the amount of O2 getting in). Now, no one would suggest that we shouldn't exercise (to avoid acidosis) so why do some people believe that we should eat any differently?

I'm just curious because this idea of eating for a particular pH is new to me.

[Seaside]

I thought it was the production of excess acid (not stomach acid) caused by eating too much protein, and dairy in particular, that causes the body to rob its bones of calcium to neutralize these acids, which is what leads to osteoporosis. I don't think being too "alkaline" is very common in western countries. But consuming too much dairy does go hand-in-hand with osteoporosis.

[eve]

Osteoporosis is a different matter entirely. Certainly as you state, the more dairy a person consumes, the more their bones suffer; the best way to strengthen the bones is to do weight-bearing exercise, preferably every day - taking calcium tablets is a waste of time.

[Marie]

I just came across this book by Gabriel Cousens, M.D., "Conscious eating". There is a chapter there about acid-base balance, he calls it a basic Key to health. And he also mention that there is a limit to how much the body can compensate for acid-base imbalances. I havn´t read it all yet but he states that the food intake plays a critical role in a acid-base balance of the body.

[philgcdr]

I have found apparently feeling that I am taking in acidity when drinking water from a Britta Water Filter. When I looked on the web to get in touch with them, I couldn't see a website.

You can e-mail me on philgcdr@yahoo.co.uk.

Hugs,

Philip.