Report on Body pH Level by AskDocWeb

About Body pH

What does pH stand for?

pH is a scale that measures how acidic (sour) or alkaline (bitter) a substance is on a scale that ranges from 1 to 14.

On the pH scale 1 is very acid, 7 is neutral and 14 is very alkaline. The numbers from 1 up to 7 measure acid, the numbers above 7 measure alkaline.

The pH scale is logarithmic. This means that each step on the scale is ten times the previous one. In other words, a pH of 4 is 10 times more acid than 5, 100 times more acid than 6 and 1,000 times more acid than 7.

Why pH is Important

All of the cells, organs, and fluids in your body have their own preferred pH values in order to operate at peak efficiency. These ranges are usually on the slightly alkaline side. When the pH level is higher or lower than what is preferred the ability of the fluid or cell to do its job is impaired. It cannot utilize the nutrients it needs or eliminate waste products properly until the correct pH level is restored. Even a minor deviation from normal can severely affect many of your organs.

Your body operates with the help of electric currents. Believe it or not, all the organs in your body use electrical fields and currents. In fact, nerve signals are nothing more than electrical discharges. The electrical activity in your brain can be directly measured by the use an EEG (electroencephalogram) and in your heart by an EKG (electrocardiogram). In your blood we can indirectly measure electrical activity by noting your pH level. If the pH of your blood varies in either direction, it changes the electrical chemistry in your body.

Example of Why pH is Important

The pH of your blood is important because of the way red blood cells function. As you probably know, the red blood cells carry oxygen and nutrition throughout your body. As these cells move through the capillaries, the space they have to move through can get pretty small. In many places the capillaries are so small that the red blood cells have to travel in single file, one cell at a time. Because of this, it is important that these red blood cells be able to flow quickly and easily through your capillaries. They can do that because of a negative charge on the surface of each red blood cell. They tend to push on each other much like two south poles of magnets, which causes them to stay apart from each other and keeps them free flowing throughout your body.

In order to maintain the negative charge on red blood cells, a specific range of pH is required. Too much acid will interfere with this negative charge in a pretty frightening way. When the acid level is too high it strips away the negative charge from the red blood cells. The result is that your red blood cells then tend to clump together and not flow as easily, making it much more difficult for them to flow through the bloodstream. This means less oxygen and less nutrition gets delivered your cells. Too much acid also weakens the red blood cells and they begin to die. And what do they release into your system when they die, more acid. As you can see, maintaining the right pH level in your body is pretty important!

What Happens with Too Much Acid?

When your body pH is to acid (acidosis), your body reacts swiftly by drawing huge amounts of organic calcium from the bones and teeth, pouring it into the bloodstream to neutralize the excess acid to restore you normal pH balance. You may have heard this referred to as a “calcium shift” which is what happens when your body robs your bones and teeth of calcium to neutralize excess acid in your body. Calcium is the body’s strongest alkalizing agent to neutralize acid.

In a study on cola beverage consumption on bone mineral reduction, rats were fed cola (an acid drink) and the effects on bone density were measured. The study suggests that “heavy intake of cola soft drinks has the potential of reducing femoral mineral density”.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has concluded that alkalizing diets improve bone density and serum growth hormone concentrations, the acidosis resulting from acidic diets contributes to bone and muscle loss.

In a book “Reverse Aging” Sang Whang proposes this theory of aging: We age because we gradually accumulate organic acid wastes. These wastes are often surrounded by cholesterol. Cellulite is a gel-like substance made of fat in which are trapped acid wastes in pockets below the skin.

Dr Robert Young, author of “The pH Miracle” has been saying this for years – “Obesity is an acid problem, the fat is saving our lives.”

What is a perfect body pH?

A perfect pH value or a correct pH level hasn’t yet been established. Healthy Blood is normally slightly alkaline with a pH value that ranges from 7.35 and 7.45. A Healthy saliva pH value ranges from 6.4 to 6.6.

Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. Almost half the people with cancer have a pH value of 4.5. All forms of arthritis are associated with excess acidity. You body will dissolve both teeth and bones to fight excess acid. Whatever health situation you are faced with, you can monitor your progress toward a proper acid/alkaline balance by testing your urine and saliva pH.

Fortunately the testing is simple and you can measure your pH level using ordinary litmus paper. Many people are using it to check their susceptibility to cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, and many other degenerative diseases.

How do I test my pH level?

You can buy pH test kits specifically made to test your body pH but you don’t need anything that expensive. Ordinary litmus paper or pH strips can be purchased at your local pet, hobby or health food store. A color guide comes with the pH paper. The number above each color shows the pH value.

It is important to test daily as food, stress, activity and the release of toxins can affect a reading. Keep track of your pH number from day to day to find your average pH value. Do this at the beginning of each day before you put anything in your mouth. This will be your “normal” saliva pH value.

Tracking changes over time will allow you to know if you are on the right track, toward health or disease. If there is no change or the readings are moving away from the preferred range, then you are not doing enough to improve your health.

Note: Your pH values can be affected by your emotional and mental states. Take note if this seems to apply when you evaluate your pH values.

Testing is as simple as gently, but quickly, touching the pH test strip to a drop of urine or a small amount of saliva.

Plan on testing your saliva at least 2 hours after eating or the first thing in the morning to get an accurate reading. This is to allow clearance of the digestive saliva produced by eating that would alter your test results.

Fill your mouth with saliva and then swallow it. Repeat this step a second time to help ensure that your saliva is clean. The third time put some of your saliva on a clean spoon and touch the pH strip to the saliva. Or you can spite a small amount of saliva onto an end of a pH test strip.

Avoid touching the end of the test strip before use.

Checking Your pH Test Results

Now compare the color on your test strip with the color chart that comes with the pH paper. A healthy pH value for saliva is slightly acid and can range from 6.4 to 6.6.

Note the pH reading for saliva is different from the pH value of the blood, which ranges from 7.1 to 7.4.

1. If your saliva pH is 6.4 to 6.6 then your other body fluids are probably in the healthy range meaning that, for the moment at least, you have good alkaline buffers in reserve.

2. If your saliva pH value is 5.8 to 6.3 you have become acidic and therefore may be developing one or more of 150 degenerative diseases.

3. If your pH value is below 5.8, then you are highly acidic, very mineral deficient, and have probably contracted at least one degenerative disease.

To test your urine it may be easier to use a small container but keep it clean and dry until use. Note that holding the litmus paper in your urine or saliva for longer than a few seconds can wash the indicator off the paper, and result in an inaccurate reading.

How To Create a Good pH Balance.

If your saliva is too acid you would benefit from increasing the alkalinity of your body. Fortunately, it is pretty easy to change your pH for the better and make it more alkaline. First you need to know which of your foods and drinks are acid and which are alkaline. Then it’s simply a matter of eliminating some of the more acid foods you are eating and adding more alkaline foods. A good ratio to maintain health is to eat 20% acid foods and 80% alkaline foods.

It is important to remember that even small changes in pH make a significant difference. A pH level of 5 is ten times as acid as a pH level of 6. Adding just a few alkaline foods at a time is easier than trying to change everything overnight.

Alkaline – Acidic Foods

The question of whether a food is acid or alkaline is not as simple as it might at first seem. Some foods such as oranges or apple cider vinegar are acid before passing through the stomach and alkaline afterwards. This is referred to as the ash factor; the pH value of food after it is metabolized by the body.

Acid Ash Foods

The following is a list of common acid ash foods, which means that they add to the overall acid in your body after eating them.

  • Alcohol
  • Aspirin
  • Bacon
  • Barley (grain)
  • Beef
  • Blueberries
  • Bran (oat)
  • Bran (wheat)
  • Bread (white)
  • Bread (whole wheat)
  • Butter
  • Cake
  • Carob
  • Cereals
  • Cheese
  • Chicken
  • Chickpeas
  • Chocolate
  • Cod
  • Coffee
  • Corn
  • Corned beef
  • Crackers (soda)
  • Cranberries
  • Currants
  • Eggs
  • Flour (white)
  • Flour (whole wheat)
  • Grains (except millet)
  • Haddock
  • Honey
  • Lamb
  • Legumes
  • Lentils (dried)
  • Lobster
  • Macaroni
  • Milk (cow’s)
  • Mustard
  • Nuts
  • Oatmeal
  • Oysters
  • Pasta
  • Peanut butter
  • Peanuts
  • Peas (dried)
  • Pike
  • Pork
  • Rice (brown)
  • Rice (white)
  • Salmon
  • Sardines
  • Sausage
  • Scallops
  • Seeds (dried)
  • Shrimp
  • Soda crackers
  • Soft drinks
  • Spaghetti
  • Squash (winter)
  • Sugar
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Tea (black)
  • Turkey
  • Veal
  • Vinegar (distilled)
  • Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
  • Walnuts
  • Wheat germ
  • Yogurt
  • Canned (glazed and sulfured fruit)
  • All dairy products
  • All animal, foul and sea animal products

Corn Oil, Corn Syrup, Olive Oil, and Refined Sugar are neutral ash foods that have an acidifying effect on the body.

Alkaline Foods

Eating the following foods produce alkaline in your body to neutralize and help control acid:

  • Alfalfa sprouts
  • Almonds
  • Apples
  • Apricots
  • Avocados
  • Bananas
  • Beans (dried)
  • Beet greens
  • Beets
  • Berries
  • Blackberries
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Cabbage
  • Cantaloupe
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflower
  • Celery
  • Chard leaves
  • Cherries (sour)
  • Collard greens
  • Cucumbers
  • Dates (dried)
  • Dulse
  • Figs (dried)
  • Fresh corn
  • Goat whey
  • Grapefruit
  • Grapes
  • Green beans
  • Green peas
  • Green soybeans
  • Kale
  • Kelp
  • Lettuce
  • Lima beans (dried)
  • Lima beans (green)
  • Limes
  • Mangoes
  • Maple syrup*
  • Melons
  • Milk (goat)
  • Millet
  • Molasses
  • Mushrooms
  • Muskmelons
  • Mustard greens
  • Okra
  • Onions
  • Oranges
  • Parsley
  • Parsnips
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Peppers
  • Pineapple
  • Plums
  • Potatoes (sweet)
  • Potatoes (white)
  • Prunes
  • Quinoa
  • Radishes
  • Raisins
  • Raspberries
  • Rhubarb**
  • Rutabagas
  • Sauerkraut
  • Soy beans (green)
  • Spinach (raw)
  • Strawberries
  • Tangerines
  • Tomatoes
  • Vinegar (cider)
  • Watercress
  • Watermelon

* All foods become acid when sugar is added.

Alkaline mineral water is a good way to obtain alkaline minerals. On the other hand acid waters like cola soft drinks can quickly deplete them.

We believe in exercising moderation in everything, including moderation and exercise.

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